Troublesome Void
by FenMoon
Summary: With Sasuke no longer in the village, a void has been created--for his fangirls! Now, Shikamaru is their target, but how will he handle the oh-so-troublesome attention? And why is Chouji acting like an abandoned puppy? yaoi, ShikaCho, KibaNaru
1. The Situation is Troublesome

**Okay, it's a new year, and a new pairing to try out. I Shikamaru/Chouji is my 2****nd**** favorite Naruto pairing, and I'm finally getting around to writing one of my own. This pairing doesn't get nearly enough attention, which is really a shame because, if they weren't the same gender, everyone would have been pairing them up from here to kingdom come all ready. Also, as a warning, this **_**isn't**_** an oneshot, or even a twoshot. I already have the plot planned out, and this will be the longest story that I've ever written, even if the chapters are kind of short, so be prepared. Also, expect pretty much random and inconsistent update times, but don't worry, I guarantee that this story will eventually be finished, and won't be hung out to dry. Now, for what's necessary:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters that appear in the manga/anime series that holds the name. Also, this story focuses on homosexual relationships between male characters, so if this offends you in any way, feel free to return to the previous link and leave this story. I won't mind. Finally, this disclaimer will only be written once, so don't go looking for it at the beginning of every chapter. Author's notes, however, may or may not appear at the beginning and/or end of a chapter.**

**Now that that's taken care of, let the story begin:**

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The Situation is Troublesome

"I wasn't really_ that_ bad, was I?"

Naruto honestly didn't know how to or even if he should answer Sakura's question. She had, in fact, been that bad, but telling her that was a good way to get hurt. Especially since his friend had undergone training from the old hag. Back when they were younger, her punches hurt like hell. Now, if he weren't careful, he'd end up with a concussion. Despite this fear, though, he couldn't help but chuckle a little.

Sakura paled when she heard Naruto's soft laugh, and noticed that the boy she was sitting next to was very purposefully not looking in her direction. That gave her all she needed to know what his answer was. Still, how could she have been that horrible? She turned once again to look at the very public spectacle going on in the street.

When Uchiha Sasuke abandoned Konohagakure and joined Orochimaru, he left some very large impacts on his home village. The most obvious had been on his former teammates, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura, who even three years after the fact still became utterly depressed at the mere mention of his name. The village as a whole had taken a blow as well. Sasuke had been one of their most promising young shinobi, and was one of the only two remaining members of his clan. To loose him to one of its greatest enemies was a great blow to both the village's military strength and morale.

However, there was another effect that it left on the village, one that no one wound have ever seen coming. Not only was Sasuke an exceptional ninja, he was also considered to be Konoha's most eligible bachelor. Despite his young age and cold attitude towards his peers, almost every girl around his age was head-over-heels for him. Not only was Sakura among those girls, but she was also one of, if not the worst smitten, if only because she had come to care for him during the time that they had spent together on Team 7. Unfortunately, with Sasuke gone, all that romantic energy was left without a target, and needed to find a new focus.

Naruto really had no idea why the village fangirls had chosen Nara Shikamaru as their new love interest. Sure, the boy was a certified genius, and he obviously wasn't hideous, but Naruto wouldn't think that most girls would be willing to put up with his lazy attitude. If he had to venture a guess, he would say that Shikamaru gave off a "boy next door" kind of vibe. He was attractive, but not unapproachable, and his family, while not exceedingly wealthy or famous, was very respectable.

Whatever the reason, though, Shikamaru was not taking it well. For someone like Shikamaru, who liked to do nothing more than quietly gave at the clouds all day, all the sudden and very noisy attention was pure terror. All those girls, trying left and right to get his attention and get him to take them out on dates, had to have been beyond troublesome for him. What's worse, Shikamaru was ill equipped to deal with it all. Unlike Sasuke, who had no problem leaving the girls and telling them where they could put all their pink hearts and chocolates, Shikamaru was much more passive, and preferred to ignore a problem until it went away, or just give in and get it over with so that he could go back to his clouds. Unfortunately, the former option had proven ineffective, and the latter would just lead to more unwanted affection. In short, Shikamaru was screwed.

Currently, he was standing in front of Ichiraku Ramen, being held by the arms by the two biggest competitors. Yamakana Ino, Shikamaru's teammate and Sakura's former rival for Sasuke, was clinging to his left arm, holding him in place while batting her eyelashes at him. Shikamaru was obviously appalled by his friend's actions, but years of experience from chasing after Sasuke had taught Ino how to persevere and how to keep a boy from escaping. On Shikamaru's right arm, Temari, a jonin kunoichi from the hidden sand village, now held what once was Sakura's perch. While she had not known the boy as long as Ino did, she made up for with her determination and vigor. In fact her vigor was currently trying to pull Shikamaru's arm out of its socket.

"Come _on_, Shikamaru," Temari spat between pulls, "Ditch the brat and let's get something to eat."

"Who are you calling a brat, pigtails?" Ino scowled at her new rival.

"Who do you think? Both Shikamaru and I have much better things to do than hang around and baby-sit some squirt all day."

"Why you…! Come on, Shikamaru, lets go get some training in before the day's over."

Shikamaru looked like he was almost relieved to hear that. While the resident slacker (now promoted to resident heartthrob) may not put much effort into getting his training done, spending time training with one of the girls was by far better than spending it being pulled apart by both of them.

Temari, however, wasn't letting go. She just smirked. "Training? You?"

Ino looked at her and growled. "Yeah, training. In case you've forgotten, Shikamaru is _my_ teammate, and we need to go train."

Temari's smirk grew into a full force grin. "Oh, please. I don't know how you made it to chunnin, brat, because your so-called 'skills' are a joke. Quite frankly, any time wasted on you in training is just that: wasted."

_Oh, boy…_ Both Naruto and Sakura had the same thought running through their heads. She never showed it, but Ino was particularly sensitive about her level of strength in comparison to her peers. Judging by the look on Temari's face, she knew that, too. Trust the fan ninja to exploit a weakness in the worst way possible.

Ino looked particularly pissed, but then a sly grin slowly formed over her face. If Temari thought that she could get away with attacking her insecurities, she clearly didn't know whom she was dealing with. And the older kunoichi was beginning to look a little nervous as Ino's smirk grew. Shikamaru just look terrified of what was coming next.

"I get by fine, thank you very much," she said slowly. "After all, if I spend too much time training, I might end up like you." Both the brunette Ino was holding and the blonde on the other side of him let out the breath they had been holding. For once, Ino hadn't been too biting. Just when they'd relaxed, though, Ino began speaking quickly and loudly, so that everyone on the street could hear. "And I'd probably die of embarrassment if anyone ever mistook me for a BOY!"

A vein in Temari's forehead instantly popped.

"Seriously, Naruto, I couldn't have been _that_ bad, right?" Sakura asked her friend, trying to drown out the sound of the sudden rapid shouting match that Shikamaru was literally stuck in the middle of. "I mean, I'll admit that acted pretty crazy back then, but not like_ this._" She motioned to the spectacle in front of them.

Naruto just chuckled again, and stood up from the bench that they had been sitting on. "Sorry, Sakura," he said casually, "but I've got to get going. I promised to be somewhere soon, and I don't want to be late. See ya!"

"Naruto—!" Sakura called after him, but he ignored his pink-haired friend and jumped onto the rooftops. He really didn't want to answer her question. There was already enough noise going on in the street, and he didn't particularly feel like being on the receiving end of one of Sakura's chakra-powered punches. Watching his brown-haired friend at the mercy of those two blondes was starting to get to him, too. Besides, he really did have somewhere to be right now, and he definitely didn't want to be late. So he ran, leaving Shikamaru and three of the most frightening women he had ever met behind.

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**A/N: That's it for now. I'm already working on the next chapter, so it shouldn't be TOO long (though how much faith you want to put in that is up to you). No romance yet, that will take a little bit, but don't worry, it'll come eventually. I would deeply appreciate it if anyone who reads this would review, since this is my first time with this pairing. Of course, I haven't actually **_**written**_** anything for the pairing yet. This was more to sort of set the stage and such for the rest of the story. So, until the next chapter, ciao!**


	2. Loneliness is Troublesome

**I really have no idea how I'm updating this so quickly. Probably because I originally planned on putting up the first two chapters together, but got impatient and posted the first one before this was done. Don't expect me to update so quickly from now on, though, the creative process is **_**hard.**_** That, being said, I'm glad that people seem to like the first chapter, so let's move on to the next. Chapter 2, BEGIN!**

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Loneliness is Troublesome

Chouji was lonely. It was that simple. He'd been feeling that way a lot recently, although that was kind of expected, seeing as every girl in the village had basically kidnapped his best friend.

Currently, the mass ninja was sitting on a hillside that he had sat on over a thousand times before. He was eating his favorite potato chips and watching the clouds go by. However, the lack of one single element made this usually enjoyable experience almost unbearable. Without Shikamaru, there was no one to share the chips that he loved so much with. No one to debate with over what the clouds looked like. No one to ask questions about the world to, like why Sunagakure was in the middle of the desert, and why Neji always had such a hard time expressing himself.

It wasn't that he_needed_ Shikamaru nearby all the time anymore. Back when they were younger, the shadow ninja had been Chouji's life support. He had felt like he couldn't exist if Shikamaru wasn't there with him. Between his size and his soft heart, he had been ridiculed almost as much as Naruto had. Shikamaru was the only one that saw him as worthwhile. He thought that the chubby boy's kind heart was a good thing, especially considering the world that they lived in.

"Being a ninja is all about deception," Shikamaru had told his friend once, about a week after they met. Chouji had been wondering why the boy still hung around with him, despite the teasing he had received for it. "You never know if the person standing next to you is an ally or an enemy. It's nice that I don't have to worry about that with you. There aren't enough people in the world as honest and kind as you are."

Of course, he had grown up a bit since those days. Now, he had much more confidence in himself, both as a person and a ninja. He supposed that he had Jirobo to thank for that. As glad as he was that that fatass bastard was dead, the sound ninja had been the first opponent that Chouji had beaten on his own. The fact that he had beaten an opponent of that caliber by himself had given him a major boost of confidence, despite the near-fatal injuries he had suffered. Since then, he had begun training with more vigor, and had been taking on missions separate from his teammates, no longer feeling like he needed them there to succeed. His actually had a very respectable success rate now, and was even beginning to consider applying to become a jonin soon. He felt more confident about his body, too, although that was partially due to the fact that he had filled out above his stomach a little. Hardly anyone called him fat anymore.

Still, just because he didn't need Shikamaru with him at all times didn't mean that he didn't want him there. Shikamaru had always been his best friend, and even put time into his busy (okay, not really _busy_, but still rather planned out) schedule to help him with his training. And even after all the blood and tears and general hell they had been through together, the two still took the time to do things like stare at the clouds all day like they did as genin.

That, however, had changed, ever since the female population of Konoha had finally decided to give up on Sasuke and started chasing after Shikamaru. Chouji didn't really hate any of them for it. He was too kind and forgiving a person for that. Still, now that it had gotten to the point that Shikamaru couldn't even walk down the street without getting mobbed, the two friends hadn't been able to hang out anymore, and Chouji couldn't help but feel a little left behind. And there were times when some random girl who Chouji didn't know and in all probability had never even spoken two words to Shikamaru before would suddenly appear and ask his the shadow ninja out. When that happened, or whenever Ino and that fan girl from Suna started fighting over Shikamaru, Chouji would find that he had to restrain himself from going right up to them and socking the girls in the jaw. Of course, he hated himself when he thought of it, especially when the girl was Ino—she was his friend, after all, even if she didn't always act like it—but he couldn't help it. He felt like he had to protect what his instincts told him was rightfully his.

Chouji sighed mournfully. Even if he did have a huge crush on his best friend, he was perfectly content with the way things had been up till now. He could live without his lazy friend knowing how he felt about him. Just being able to spend time with Shikamaru would have been enough to satisfy him, but now that had been taken from him.

Chouji was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a coarse, yet deep voice call out to him from the bottom of the hill. He looked, and found Inuzuka Kiba waving up at him from the foot of the grassy rise, Akamaru following behind his master. He put on a slight smile, and returned the greeting with a friendly, if not tired sounding, "What's up, Kiba?"

The dog ninja calmly walked up the slope and just smiled as he answered. "Eh, nothing much. What are you doing up here by yourself? And where's Shikamaru? You and him are usually attached at the hip."

Chouji's face strained a little. "He's…busy today."

"Ino and Temari again?" Chouji nodded. "Man, I feel bad for him. Poor guy's being hounded all over the village. Even _Hana's_ been looking at him."

"…I know…" Chouji whispered, looking down at the grass below his feet.

Kiba noticed the change immediately, and quickly tried to comfort the large man. "Must be tough for you too, huh? Don't worry, though. I mean, it _is_ Shikamaru after all. He'll probably do something dumb and the girls will leave him alone and move on to Neji or something."

Chouji smiled a little. Kiba wasn't really that good at this sort of thing, but at least he was trying. Now, though, the dog ninja was squatting in front of him, an overly friendly look on his face. Chouji suddenly became on guard. He knew that look. _He wants something…_ Chouji thought for a second, and decided that the direct approach would be best. "Is there something that you want, Kiba?"

"Actually…" Kiba began, blushing a little in embarrassment, "I kinda wanted to ask you to do me a favor."

After a long sigh, Chouji finally responded. "Okay, what's the favor?"

"Well, you see, I kind of have plans today, but the thing is, I can't take Akamaru with me. I've been trying to tire him out all morning, but he's just got too much pent up energy, and I'm already running late. Any chance you can watch him for a while? _Please?_"

Chouji briefly wondered what Kiba could possibly have to do today that involved leaving Akamaru behind. The two of them had been inseparable since the academy. His first thought was 'date,' but even on those, the large dog often followed behind his master while he talked to whatever girl he was with. Maybe he was headed to a restaurant where there were not pets allowed? No, Kiba always boycotted those.

He stopped wondering, however, when he noticed that the ninja in question was now looking at him with puppy dog eyes. How the hell Kiba could do that with those wild sepia slits he had for eyes was beyond Chouji, but he seemed to be able to pull it off. And it was working. Damn.

"Fine, I'll look after him."

Kiba brightened instantly. "Great!" he exclaimed as he stood up. "Don't worry, he's been running around all morning, so he should be somewhat placid now. I'll pick him up later, about six, okay. Now, be good Akamaru. See you two later!"

And with that, Kiba jumped away, running into the city at top speed, leaving his dog behind. Chouji chuckled a little as Akamaru looked in the direction that his master had taken off in.

"You feeling abandoned, too?" The dog gave a sad whimper at the man's words, and then settled down on the grass next to him. Chouji smiled slightly. It wasn't whom Chouji wished it were, not even the same species, but he _had_ wanted some company. Beggars can't be choosers, after all.

"Hey, you want a chip?"

"Arf!"

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**A/N: I should probably explain about the "mass ninja" thing, huh? You see, in a lot of Naruto stories (including mine), authors sometimes use their abilities and traits to define them. For example:**

**Kiba-dog ninja**

**Shikamaru-shadow ninja**

**Shino-bug ninja**

**So, since Chouji's abilities all revolve around him manipulating his body mass, I've coined the phrase "mass ninja" for him. Who knows? Maybe it will catch on. **

**Anyway, please review so that I know how I did. This is the first time that I've written Chouji, so I'm kind of nervous about it. The next chapter might be a little while, since I'm not sure exactly how I want to write it, and I've been feeling a tad bit narcoleptic lately, but it will come eventually. Until then!**


	3. Chases are Troublesome

**Wow, thanks for all the reviews. I'm glad that people seem to like this so far, especially since this is my first attempt with this pairing, and the first multi-chapter story that I've written in a while. If anyone has some ideas/suggestions/criticism so that I can make this story better, I'd really appreciate it. I already have the plot as a whole planned out, but I'm always willing to listen to suggestions, as long as it doesn't contradict the plot.**

**In other news, this chapter reveals the side pairing I'm using. Did I forget to mention there was a side pairing? Oops, sorry! I did kind of want it to be a surprise, which is why I didn't mention it up till now. Hope that it's okay, and I'll update the summary to reflect it when I post the next chapter. Anyways, read on.**

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Chases are Troublesome

While there were many things that annoyed Nara Shikamaru a great deal, three things in particular really grated him. He hated putting effort into things, because he thought that most things that people thought effort should be put into (school, chores, bills, etc.) really weren't that important in the grand scheme of things, so it was better to preserve energy for what really mattered in life. He hated aggressive women, mostly because they reminded him of his mother, who in his mind was frightening enough to make the Akatsuki wet their pants. He hated life-or-death situations, influenced by the results of the mission to retrieve Sasuke three years ago and more recently seeing his former sensei die, both of which had been coupled by a feeling of inadequacy for his own abilities as a leader and fighter.

Currently, he was running as fast as his legs would allow down a back street from several _very_ aggressive and competitive women, most of whom were well-versed in the arts of assassination.

Obviously, Shikamaru was having a very bad day.

Shikamaru really had no idea what he had done to get all these girls to suddenly like him. He had carefully crafted his image into that of a lazy good-for-nothing so that he could get out of being given any serious work or missions to do. If he had to lay blame, it would be on the chunnin exams three years ago. Somehow, he had actually gotten in the mood to take his match seriously, and had revealed that he actually could fight. It probably didn't help that he was the only member of the retrieval team later that year that had returned to the village standing. Shikamaru wasn't a vain person, but he did allow himself to admit he wasn't unappealing to look at, so if he had looks, smarts, and strength, he supposed that the girls that used to chase Sasuke around would find something that they liked in him.

The main problem—other than the fact that these women would probably literally be the death of him—was that they were all as aggressive as his mother was. Shikamaru didn't have much, if any aspirations for the future. He planned on simply paying his bills, marrying some girl, having kids and generally living out his life in sheer uneventful bliss. The one thing that he was determined to see through in his life, however, was that he _not_ get caught in the same situation that his father was in, at the eternal beck and call of his wife. And that's exactly what would happen if he actually wound up with one of these crazy girls. Especially the two front runners, who were also the most demanding females he had ever met.

To be clear, he didn't hate either of them. Shikamaru had grown up with Ino due to their fathers' friendship, and Temari's personality wasn't so bad, especially compared to her brothers and other Suna shinobi he had met. He also respected their strength, both of them having saved his life before. Still, he only saw them as allies and companions; nothing more than that, and a possible attraction that he might have felt to either one of them was lost once they had starting fighting over him. Seriously, how could _anyone_ think that this kind of cat fighting was attractive?

Besides, he didn't care much for blond hair and blue eyes anyways.

"Umm, Shikamaru? Do you think that we could—?" Shikamaru gave the brown-eyed redhead that had caught up with him no time to finish her request as he quickly ran into the crowded main street and veered to the right. Damn, he had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he had allowed the throng of females to catch up to him. He had managed to slip away from Ino and Temari earlier in front of Ichiraku while they lost their focus on him to start staring down each other. Thankfully, Sakura had remained silent as he tried to escape, but before he could round the corner, another girl—Ami, he thought her name was—saw him and immediately started squealing. This, of course, managed to grab the two warring blondes' attention, and Shikamaru had taken off like a rocket, picking up more and more followers/stalkers as he ran.

Now, Shikamaru was zigzagging through the crowded marketplace. Maybe he could manage to at least shake a few of them. He dashed through the crowd and past vendors, apologizing as he brushed up against people. He was almost amused as some of the shoppers and salesmen watched as the infamous slacker danced among the busy street as fast as he could. Eventually, he escaped the marketplace, and turned around to see if he had lost any of his pursuers. His jaw slacked when he found that, not only had he lost absolutely none of the girls, the group was actually larger than it was before. _Damn mob mentality!_

Shikamaru picked up speed again, becoming more frustrated with the day each passing second. He wasn't even supposed to be here right now. He was supposed to be hanging out with Chouji and watching the clouds today. That was another thing making this whole situation even more troublesome. Thanks to the near-constant attention he was now receiving, he hadn't been able to spend time with his best friend in weeks. He couldn't even remember the last time they had been able to go cloud watching. The only time they could have some time together anymore was on missions, and Shikamaru couldn't give up his concentration during those, lest anyone on his team get injured, or worse.

Shikamaru felt horrible for how he was treating his friend, even if it wasn't his own fault. Sure, Chouji wasn't nearly as thin skinned about this kind of thing as he was when they were younger, but he was still basically being abandoned. Whenever they _did_ get the chance to talk, Shikamaru could tell that, even if he understood, Chouji was really hurting from being left alone. Chouji really didn't deserve to feel that lonely, and Shikamaru felt incredibly guilty for it. No matter how innocent he was in the whole affair, the shadow ninja couldn't deny that he was basically the cause of his friend's pains.

Shikamaru once again pulled himself out of his thoughts and glanced around. This whole chase had gone on long enough, and he needed to find a way to end it. He spotted an alley off the side of the road, and realized that it was actually one that he often used walking to and from Lady Hokage's office. A flash of an idea came to him, and he glanced at the crowd behind him. Maybe that mob mentality could work in his favor. If only he could get out of their sights for just a second…

The girls saw Shikamaru dart into the alley, and followed after him as fast as they could. Most of them were already slightly tired out from all of the yelling they had done during the chase to try and get Shikamaru's attention. Once inside, however, they found that the alley split into two paths, and Shikamaru was nowhere to be seen. After a few seconds of confusion and murmuring, Ami suddenly cried out and pointed down the path to the left. The mob quickly looked and caught a fleeting glance of Shikamaru's shadow as he ran back out into the busy public streets, and quickly moved to catch up with him.

Ino, however, stayed behind, looking around cautiously. If there was one thing that she had learned over the years as a member of Team 10, it was that, when it came to Shikamaru, shadows were not to be trusted. She noticed that Temari had also remained, apparently realizing the same thing that the younger girl had. After a moment, their suspicions were confirmed as they saw their target leap across the rooftops overhead, in the opposite direction of where the mob went. Both girls smirked as they jumped up to continue their pursuit. Now, with that whole hoard gone, there was a chance for some…intimate…time with the boy.

Shikamaru groaned as he looked back. He had managed to get rid of most of the girls, but he would have liked it if at least one of the two blondes that were still after him had been lost as well. He hoped that, now that the two rivals were the only ones there, they might focus more on fighting each other than doing who-knows-what to him. Still, he knew better than to just leave it to hope, and began to look for another way to lose them.

After another minute of searching and ignoring/cringing at the catcalls he was receiving from the kunoichi, he finally found his chance. He was nearing a run-down apartment complex on the seedier sides of town (as seedy as Kohonagakure got, anyways). It was public knowledge that the building was poorly kept and on it's last legs, and that quite literally no one lived in the place. To Shikamaru, however, that meant four floors with six apartments each of places to hide himself until he could sneak away from Ino and Temari. Sure, they were in hot pursuit right now, but get them to slow down, and they'd be at each other's throats again, and he'd be free to go unnoticed.

Shikamaru put another burst of speed into his run and dashed towards the building, once again out of view of the dueling blondes for just a second. It didn't matter which door he chose—all the apartments were vacant, after all—so he jumped onto the third floor, since that was closest to his current elevation. He went for the closest door, the second from the end of the walkway, and immediately turned the knob so that he could slip inside before Ino and Temari caught up again.

It was locked.

Shikamaru's eyes went wide in panic. How could the door be locked? No one lived here. He continued to fiddle with the knob, praying that it was just stuck or something. The door didn't give. Shikamaru didn't have time for this. Any second and—

"SHIKAMARU!"

The poor boy turned around to the familiar twin cries just in time to see Ino and Temari tackle him. All three of them crashed into the door, and while it may have been able to stand Shikamaru's frantic fiddling, the wooden portal could not stand the full body force of all three young shinobi. It almost immediately swung open, and the brunette and two blondes landed unceremoniously on the floor of the apartment.

After the few initial groans of pain, Shikamaru looked around the flat he had tried so hard to enter earlier, and deadpanned once he saw it, the girls quickly following suit. At least now he knew why the door was locked.

Inside, the only piece of furniture was the futon in the middle of the floor. On the futon were several new sheets that shouldn't have been in an empty apartment. On top of those sheets rested a very flushed, very naked Uzumaki Naruto, and on top _him_ was an equally nude Inuzuka Kiba. Who knows what they were doing just before they were barged in on, but now they were gawking in shock at the three intruders that had tumbled in.

Silence reigned in the room for a moment. Followed by screams.

Yeah, this was definitely a bad day.

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**A/N: 'sigh' It's a universal truth. If it's a Naruto fan fiction, and I write it, then it's going to have KibaNaru in it. Sorry, but I just can't help myself. In my own defense, I did kind of hint at it, what with both of them having to "be somewhere" at the same time and all. Hopefully, putting in another pairing to go with ShikaCho won't turn off anyone, but this event is kind of necessary for the later chapters. You'll see what I mean soon.**

**That being said, I need some help with the next chapter. I need a sort of line that could be seen as homophobic without really meaning to, like an offhand comment that would make a gay person feel bad overhearing it, without the speaker **_**actually**_** being homophobic. Kind of how people will insult each other by calling them "gay" without actually disliking gay people. I can't explain any more than that without giving the plot of Chapter 4 away, so sorry if this is a little vague. I'm actually kind of worried that I gave too much away already. If you have any suggestions, please ****PM**** them to me. Don't put it in a review, because if I use it, I don't want others to see it before the chapter comes out. Once again, I'm probably giving too much away, but I've been racking my brain to come up with what I need, and I've got nothing. Thank you in advance.**


	4. Being Honest is Troublesome

**Whew! Finally, I've finished this. It's hard getting yourself to write sometimes, especially when you're coming home tired every night. Thank god for three day weekends, or this might have never been finished.**

**First off, I want to make a few apologies. I apologize that there is so much KibaNaru in this chapter, since really that's my more natural element, and this is my first real attempt at a side pairing. Don't worry, though, the focus is still ShikaCho, it just won't be all the time. I also apologize on how long this chapter is. Not that I mind having long chapters, mind you, but the length is going to be pretty inconsistent. In my defense, lots of novels have chapters of varying length, sometimes going from 25 pages to 7 to 15.**

**I also want to give thanks to Martial artist-Mariko for her idea, as it's what I ended up using (see last chapter for more details). You really helped me out, so thanks.**

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Being Honest is Troublesome

_THWACK!_

"OW! Sakura, will you knock it off already?" Naruto complained as he rubbed the bump that was quickly forming on his head. Kiba was also holding his head in pain, growling at the kunoichi that had just punched them both.

"Humph," was her only response, followed by "Serves you both right."

Naruto just groaned and continued to rub the back of his head. As he did, he took the time to look around, and noticed that he was getting several stares from the villagers, most of them unfriendly. _Looks like most of them already know._ News and gossip traveled fast in a village, and Konohagakure was no different. Naruto was seriously beginning to regret leaving his apartment this morning.

After Shikamaru and his two head groupies had literally barged in (and right when things were heating up, a small, more perverse part of his brain reminded him), chaos had erupted in the small space. The reason that Naruto had bought that decrepit flat was because no one actually _wanted_ to be near the building, making it the perfect place to meet with his lover in secret. However, this was a double-edged sword; if anything actually happened there, a curious crowd would form almost instantly. Right after Lee had called up in response to the screaming, Naruto realized that they had to move, and _fast._ So, he quickly got dressed (somewhat difficult, considering he and Kiba hadn't been exactly tidy as they tore each other's clothes off earlier) and, after registering that Kiba had done the same, whisked the brunette off to his small, one bedroom apartment.

They had tried to pick up where they had left off before they were interrupted, but any romantic mood had already been long gone. In its place was an unsettling fear. Shikamaru would remain quiet about what he'd seen as long as no one asked him, but Temari actually disliked keeping secrets if she didn't have to, and there was no chance that _Ino_ would keep her mouth shut. By the next morning, everyone in the village would know. And that scared them shitless.

So, what should have been an afternoon of passion and lust together somehow became a night of cuddling for reassurance and comfort. Naruto hadn't even been sure if he was up to facing the world when he had woken up in the morning. Sakura, however, had come by and practically dragged the two outside. After all, she had said, they had to face the village sooner or later, so it might as well be sooner.

Naruto and Kiba hadn't come out just so that Sakura could pound them every five minutes, though, and after the most recent set of lumps, Naruto was starting to growl with Kiba.

Sakura ignored the growls coming from her canine-like friends. "Just tell me this, Naruto," she began, her voice suddenly sounding a bit sad. "Why didn't you tell me? I mean, I can understand that you wanted to keep this a secret, but from me, too? I mean, you're one of best friends, Naruto. So why?"

Naruto looked a bit guilty. "It's not that I didn't _want_ to tell you, Sakura. It's just that…that there was someone that I…that we couldn't let find out about this."

"And you thought that I'd tell? I'm not Ino, Naruto. You know that you can confide in me. I can keep a secret."

"Not from this person…"

Sakura blinked. Who could Naruto be talking about? She looked to Kiba for a hint, but he was now avoiding her gaze, hanging his head in shame. Sakura was surprised. Who could inspire this much fear and shame in these two, and why wouldn't she be able to keep it a secret from them? Was it someone from torture and interrogation? But they didn't know anyone there. And while Ino could possess someone, there were no mind reading ninja in the village, so who—

Kiba suddenly stiffened and took a few sniffs of the air. "Naruto." His speech was quick and sounded a little scared. The other two looked in the direction the dog ninja was facing, and saw a young woman walking up the street towards them, people falling silent as she passed. Although she was beautiful, the aura that she was currently giving off would have frightened even the perverted Jiraiya away. Every step she took was forceful and with purpose. The girl's long, black hair blew back a bit in the breeze, but no one could see her usually shy, kind pale eyes. The girl stopped when she reached the two nervous and one surprised shinobi, her eyes still hidden, and the usually busy street was now completely silent.

Sakura had to admit that Naruto was probably right. In all likeliness, she wouldn't have been able to keep this a secret from Hinata.

Everything was quiet. The boys were afraid to actually say anything. Sakura didn't want to get involved in something that was _clearly_ none of her business. All of the onlookers seemed to feel a mix of awe and terror, like they were watching a bomb tick down its last few seconds. No one could tell what Hinata was thinking. All that they knew was that she was _mad_.

After a few tense seconds of complete silence, Kiba finally tried to break it. "Hinat—"

_SLAP!_

Kiba never saw the hand coming, and yelped in surprise when it struck his cheek. Between the anger the girl held behind it and the guilt Kiba was carrying, that slap hurt a hell of a lot more than any of Sakura's punches that morning. Everyone else, Naruto and Sakura included, let out a collective gasp at the girl's out of character behavior.

Kiba really had no idea what he was going to say. He knew that he deserved the slap, and probably more, after what he'd done, but damn, that _hurt!_ Anger began to build up in his throat, even though he knew that there was really no basis for it. It didn't last long, though. The rage left and was replaced by ten times the guilt he had been feeling before. Now that he could see Hinata's face, he watched as tears were barely holding themselves back.

"Hinata, I—"

"_Shut up!"_ the Hyuga heiress screamed, "I don't want to hear it! You knew that I liked him! You knew! And yet you…you…you went behind my back and screwed him! You're supposed to be my best friend, Kiba! Best friends don't stab each other in the back! How could you take him from me, Kiba? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!"

Hinata exploded into sobs as the tears ran freely down her face. Kiba looked at the ground, guilt etched across his face. After listening to Hinata's sobs for a few seconds, he finally looked up again. All that he could give her, however, was a weak apology. "Hinata…I'm sorry…"

Anger returned to the Hyuga's face with a vengeance. "You're _sorry_? You're SORRY?!" She raised her hand to give another slap. Kiba closed his eyes and waited for the blow to come. As much as it would hurt, he was well aware how much he deserved it.

Before Hinata's arm could begin its swing, however, her wrist was grabbed from behind. Hinata looked over her shoulder to see a sober Naruto holding her tightly, so that she couldn't move her hand. Her own eyes widened in shock, as if the final nail of her coffin had been put in place.

"Hinata," Naruto began, his voice as solemn and serious as his expression, "I'm sorry that we hurt you. And I realize that we both probably deserve all the anger and punishment that you're giving us. However, I cannot just stand aside and watch someone that I care deeply for get hurt, so please calm down."

Hinata's eyes began to well up again. "Naruto…you…how could…why?…" Before she could collect her thoughts enough to form a sentence, though, she began to cry again, and ran as fast as she could down the street. She had had to steel herself in order to confront her crush and her "best friend," but now she suddenly wanted to be anywhere but here.

Kiba began to start after her, but Akamaru suddenly jumped down in front of him, blocking his path. Naruto didn't understand dogspeak, but even he could tell from the mirthless expression on the large dog's face that he didn't have good news.

Kiba confirmed this a second later, his expression even more downcast as he turned to face his companions. "Looks like I've gotta go. My family wants me back home, so…" he trailed off, the dread obvious in his voice.

Naruto mimicked his lover's tone. "So I guess I'll see you later, then?" He put more stress on the last word. The question wasn't rhetorical.

"…yeah."

Well, _that_ sounded definite. Both of them knew that the Inuzuka clan wasn't calling Kiba back just because he hadn't come home last night, and whenever a clan member did something to betray their trust, the clan tended to become rather hostile, to put it mildly. Naruto stared at the ground, his own eyes beginning to water. He wondered how the hell this could have happened. He had gone from being the happiest he'd ever been, to possibly losing it all.

Suddenly, the blonde felt his head forced up and gasped as a familiar pair of lips crashed into his own. He was surprised, but he returned it. He could practically taste the need on Kiba's lips. Not a need of lust, but of comfort, of reassurance. A need to know that everything would be all right. A need that they both shared.

Akamaru interrupted them with a low bark, and took his leave, a reluctant Kiba following behind him. Sakura, who had reserved herself to watching everything from the sidelines, finally approached her friend. "Naruto, are you…"

She didn't finish, because it was clear that he wasn't all right. He was visibly shaking now, and looked about ready to burst. Sakura quickly pulled him into an embrace, and patted his head. "It's alright," she coaxed, "let it out." She continued to hold him as Naruto began to dry into her shoulder, and glared at the remaining spectators, silently warning them to get lost.

* * *

For the first time in a while, everything felt right in the world. 

Chouji felt a little greedy, since this current contentment was coming at Naruto and Kiba's expense. Still, it was pointless to deny how he felt right now. He just hoped that he could help his friends out later.

Because of what happened yesterday, the town was abuzz with gossip and murmurs. Somehow, in an entire village of ninja, two of them, neither of which was particularly known for their ability to keep secrets, had managed to have an affair under everyone's noses. How could they not have known? Now, everyone was recounting the hints and clues that they suddenly realized they had noticed. Like how one shopkeeper had seen Kiba buying an abnormally large amount of ramen last week (along with the rest of the abnormally large amount of food he usually bought for his family, Chouji thought), or how Naruto hadn't been trying to peek at the adult magazines anymore (probably more to do with his time and mild disgust with Jiraiya), or how he didn't called Kiba "dog breath" anymore (that was flat out bull; Naruto had called him that and worse just four days ago).

Of course, girls were always the biggest gossipers, especially when it came to other people's love lives, so all of the girls that would usually be chasing Shikamaru down right now were taking a break to talk and gather information today. Once Shikamaru realized this, he had immediately called on Chouji to spend the day with him. After all, this was an extremely rare opportunity, and he was going to milk it for all it was worth.

So now, they were on their favorite hillside, looking up at the clouds that looked better than they had ever had before. Chouji was munching on a bag of potato chips, which he happily found had more chips in them than usual. Shikamaru was lying on his back, openly smiling as he watched the clouds he had been deprived of for so long float across a beautiful blue sky.

For now, Chouji felt as if everything was right in the world. This was how it was supposed to be. Then Shikamaru began one of his other favorite activities: complaining.

"I can't believe those two," he groaned. "Why is it that they can't get that I'm not interested? It's gotten to the point that I'm even seeing them in my _sleep_."

Chouji didn't have to be a genius to know he was talking about Ino and Temari. "That's probably part of their plan, Shikamaru," he chuckled out. "Now they've gotten you thinking about them all the time."

Shikamaru groaned again. "How troublesome," he mumbled as he began to fumble around his pockets. He suddenly felt the need for a cigarette.

Chouji decided to ask something he had been wondering about for a while now. "Are you_ really_ not attracted to them? At _all_? I mean, it's not like they're hideous monsters or anything."

The shadow ninja just scoffed. "Please. Any _possible_ attractiveness those two have goes out the window as soon as they open their big mouths."

Chouji stayed silent and reached in his bag for another chip as he recognized the wave of relief that passed over him. Even though he felt guilty for it, and knew nothing would ever happen between them, he allowed himself to entertain the slight hope that maybe, just maybe his best friend could be something more, even if it was a false hope.

"Besides," said best friend continued as he went on searching his clothing. Where the hell were those cigarettes? "I'm having a hard enough time getting Kiba and Naruto in a bed together out of my head. I really don't want to think about their 'appeal' too."

Chouji's hand froze.

"Aw, come on, Shikamaru. It couldn't have been _that_ bad, right?" Chouji's voice was strained, and he forced himself to continue eating. Shikamaru, still being caught up in finding his cigarettes, didn't notice the change in his friend's demeanor.

"Yeah, Chouji, it_ was_ that bad. Seriously, I hope you never see anything like it." Shikamaru didn't like where the conversation was going. The last thing he wanted was to talk about _that_. After all, he had known both Naruto and Kiba since he was little. The thought of the people he grew up with, people who he had seen ask where babies came from and thought kissing was gross suddenly becoming sexual beings freaked him out. Now he _really_ needed a smoke. Where were they?

"Damn fags," he finally voiced his frustration in his troublesome body search.

Chouji's lips froze just as he was about to bite down on a chip.

Shikamaru let out a grunt of triumph as he finally found the box of cigarettes and reached for his lighter when he noticed Chouji stand up and begin to walk down the hill. The mass ninja's body was rigid. "Chouji, what's wrong?" Shikamaru called after him, wondering why his friend was suddenly leaving. They were going to spend the day together, weren't they?

Chouji stopped moving, but he didn't turn around. "N-Nothing…" he responded, his voice shaky. "I-I just remembered, there's something I have to do today. Sorry, Shikamaru, but I've got to go now. See ya." With that, Chouji took off.

Shikamaru watched him suddenly leave. What the hell was going on? Chouji never forgot his appointments. Then he looked where his friend had just been sitting, and saw that he had left his chips behind. The bag wasn't even half empty! Shikamaru looked back in the direction that he had left.

…_Chouji?_

* * *

**A/N: You know, I actually enjoyed writing this chapter. Writing an angry Hinata is actually kind of fun, no matter how twisted that sounds. Anyways, review and let me know how I'm doing. I'm still kind of concerned about the amount of screen time the KibaNaru is getting, and they're still getting it in the next chapter, but after that I promise they're turning it down a little.**

**In the meantime though, since it worked before, I'm going to try this again. I need something that could be said to purposefully make someone feel uncomfortable at dinner. Once again, I can't be any less vague without giving away future events, but this time, orientation/gender/race doesn't matter. So please give me a hand with this. Thanks in advance.**


	5. Dates are Troublesome

**Finally, I've gotten this chapter done. And it's long! I don't think that I've ever written anything this long before, and that includes papers for school. I am very happy with myself right now.**

**Anyways, this chapter is, once again, very heavy with the KibaNaru, but it's also the last one that is. After this, it kind of takes a back seat to the main pairing. I think that that's a good thing, since this is a ShikaCho story. Anyways, enjoy the new (and long!) chapter.**

* * *

Dates are Troublesome

"Ya know it's rude ta stare, kid?" 

Naruto quickly apologized while almost all the dogs in the room began to growl at him. Personally, he thought the hostility towards him was uncalled for. He felt that a large talking dog with an eye patch was more than stare worthy. Especially since the dog (which looked more like a hungry wolf to him) seemed ready and waiting to pounce on him and tear his throat out. Apparently, Kuromaru and his pack didn't agree.

Naruto turned back to the dinner table and looked around at its occupants. Across from him, Kiba was giving him an apologetic look, feeling embarrassed and slightly guilty at his family nin-ken's actions. His mother (who Naruto had been very careful to call "Lady Tsume") was joining the dogs in growling from the head of the table. Hana, the eldest daughter situated next to the young vessel, was looking him over carefully as she had been doing all night. It was as if she was inspecting a piece of meat at the butcher's to decide if she would buy it for dinner. That visual, however, did nothing to calm Naruto's nerves.

Naruto found himself wondering not for the first time that night why he had agreed to come to this "date." Sure, the fact that he had been invited to dinner instead of cornered in a dark alley by a pack of angry canines was definitely a good sign, but it had not missed the blonde that Kiba had refused to look him in the eyes when he gave the invitation. As soon as he had arrived that night, he had been made very aware that the Inuzuka clan, both human and canine, regarded him as an enemy.

Still, if he wanted even a slim chance of their blessing, he had to go through with it. No matter what happened, he had to remind himself that this was all for Kiba. So, he tried to remember all the lessons on table manners he had received in his childhood from Iruka-sensei and Sakura (though her "lessons" were more in the form of punches and yelling at him to behave). Personally, he thought he did pretty well, considering that his idea of a fancy dinner was ramen with pork _and_ chicken. He did make a few mistakes, which his hosts/torturers venomously called him on often, but all things considered he was actually very polite and well behaved. Not that any of the Inuzuka seemed to care.

After a few tense minutes of eating in silence, made all the more tense by the presence of all the dogs lying in wait, Hana finally decided to throw her guest a bone. "So," she began, "you've been training with one of the sannin, right? That must be quite difficult."

Naruto brightened up at this. Maybe that ero-sannin could come in handy for once and help him make a good impression. "Yeah," he answered as politely as he could, "I've been with Jiraiya for over three years now. You wouldn't know it by looking at him, but he's a real workhorse. I've actually gotten a lot stronger, thanks to him."

"Probably picked up his other dirty habits, too," Tsume sneered. Naruto deflated in his chair. Of course, anyone in the village over the age of thirty knew of Jiraiya's self-proclaimed status as "uber-pervert," especially if they were female. Once again, the entire room, minus an apologetic Kiba and pitying Hana and Akamaru was scowling at him. At least whatever passed for scowling with dogs.

"S-Still," Hana tried to force a pleasant smile. "Three years is a long time. And all so that you can bring that Uchiha kid back. Have you gotten any more leads on him yet?" 

As soon as she had mentioned Sasuke, however, Kiba began waving his arms, trying to signal her to stop. She looked at her little brother, confused as to why he wanted her to keep mum about his date's friends. She was at least trying to ease the atmosphere. Then she turned back to the young vessel, and was surprised to find him now staring into his bowl in deep depression. _Oh, that's why._

Tsume, who either didn't notice the state her "guest" had fallen into or just didn't care. "Good riddance, if you ask me. That damned brat nearly got Kiba killed. He could die in some ditch for all I care."

Kiba and Hana stiffened in fear and anticipation. They both watched as Naruto's air of melancholy mutated into rage. He looked like he was about to break the silver utensil he was currently holding. The dogs began to perk up, realizing that they might actually have to fight soon instead of just scare the kid.

Naruto, however, simmered out a little before he responded. "Jiraiya actually said something along the same lines. Still, I'm not going to give up on him. It's not Sasuke's fault really. He just has a lot of pain, because of what happened to his family and all, and had to kind of hold it in for a while. He's not really a bad person, though. He's one of my best friends."

The rest of the room sighed in relief, thanking any and all gods that Naruto had been able to keep his temper in check. Tsume seemed to let the topic pass, and took a vicious bite out of her meal. Soon, the rest of the room fell back into that same awkward silence that the conversation had started in. Naruto looked around the room again. Kiba was offering silent support to him, along with an apologetic smile for his mother. Hana seemed lost in thought as she absentmindedly ate her food. Tsume was watching Naruto suspiciously, looking as if she was waiting for a good or even half-decent reason to main him. And the dogs were still glaring at him.

_This is for Kiba. This is for Kiba. This is for Kiba._ Naruto kept chanting those four words in his head, hoping that it would help to keep him from blowing his top. He mentally buckled himself down and got ready for what was proving to be a very long night.

* * *

"Hmm, you know, I think I'm just going to get a salad. What about you, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru just grunted in response. If anyone else were with him, they might have been offended. Since it was she, though, she knew that that was as close as an answer the notoriously lazy young man usually gave. This grunt, however, wasn't so much out of his usual laziness as it was due to him being lost in thought. As he looked absently at the menu that had been placed in front of him, he was wondering why on earth had he gone through the trouble of asking Ino out on a date.

Well, he knew _why_ he did. That had been carefully calculated. Chouji had been avoiding him like the plague for a week now, ever since that strange time up on the hill, and Shikamaru needed someone to talk to. Given his current "status," he couldn't talk to a guy or one of his elders without some girl trying to nose in, and right now, he needed some one on one conversation, not a quick chat before being chased by yet another female mob. After some careful consideration, Shikamaru had realized that the only way to move around in town without being unwillingly grabbed by a bunch of girls was to _willingly_ go with _one_ girl.

For that, Ino had been the obvious choice. Despite her feverish attempts to get Shikamaru to ask her out, the genius suspected that once they were actually _on_ the date, Ino would fall into her usual routine behavior that she had always held on to back when they had all gone out to eat as a team. The control ninja was also used to Shikamaru's own behavior and mannerisms, so it would be considerably less troublesome to spend time with her than it would be with some shy girl who didn't know him at all. Or Temari. A date with the attention-demanding Temari would be a nightmare, and quite possibly hazardous to his health.

Still, all reasoning and logic aside, the simple truth was that he had _asked_ Ino out on a _date._ The pure insanity of the idea was pounding in his head. When he had actually asked her as nonchalantly as he could (he was still Nara Shikamaru, after all), she had been jumping up and down in pure glee. If that weren't bad enough, Temari had also been present at the time, and her pure rage was practically tangible. Even before they had reached the family style restaurant for dinner, nearly every girl in the village was following them from twenty paces behind. It was purely ludicrous how they thought that fifty-odd girls could follow two highly skilled shinobi and not be noticed. If this was a joke, Shikamaru wasn't getting the punch line, and it didn't look like Ino had, either.

"…And this guy's looking at these flowers so I go…Hey! Shikamaru, are you even listening?"

Shikamaru was pulled out of his reverie by his date's sudden exclamation. He finally began to look at her and notice the cross expression on her face. He tried not to smile. It looked right he had been right to think that Ino would be her old bossy self.

A young waitress approached them, asking for their order. Shikamaru quickly scanned over his menu, realizing that he hadn't even looked at it yet. After waiting for a few seconds, Ino got impatient and asked the waitress to come back in a few minutes. The girl then glared at him until he looked up from his menu and finally noticed that their server was gone.

"What is _with_ you?" Ino huffed, "Even you don't space out this much. And this date was your idea, too!"

"S-Sorry…" Shikamaru tried to sound embarrassed and apologetic, even though Ino had been begging for this for months. "It's just that…well…" He took a quick glance across the room. Good, no spying fan girls. He had to hand it to Ino on the choice of restaurant; this place had a strong stance on no soliciting, and none of his followers could take a table without making their already obvious presence known. "Well, it's just that something's been wrong with Chouji lately."

Ino's face quickly morphed from angry to concerned. Sure, Shikamaru should be focusing on _her_, and not Chouji. Yes, the mass ninja really needed to lose a few pounds. Still, Chouji was her friend, so if something were wrong with him, then of course she'd want to help.

Shikamaru, seeing that he had her attention, and thankful that she actually cared (sometimes it was hard to tell with her), went on. "It's just that, a week ago we were hanging out and watching the clouds, and then he suddenly left. And he's been avoiding me ever since then."

One look at Ino's expression now told him exactly what she thought. "I'm not being delusional, Ino. He's literally _run_ away from me this past week, and when he left the hill, he left his bag of chips behind—_half empty_. You know that he doesn't do that."

The blond control ninja softened. Shikamaru was right. As ridiculous and unhealthy as it was, Chouji always insisted on finishing those damn chips of his. "Well, did something happen?"

"That's just it. Nothing happened at all! We were just talking, and then he got up and left. Afterwards, I looked around to se if there was anything or anyone that might have upset him, but there wasn't. The only thing that I can think of was that I must have said something, but I can't figure out what it was that would have set him off like that."

Ino settled into her seat and got ready to think. This was her forte. If anyone could figure out odd social behavior, it was she. "Alright, tell me_exactly_ what you two talked about."

Shikamaru did as she asked. Several times. Ino kept insisting that he go over it again, but to make sure that he used their exact words, and not just his side of the conversation. After all, a piece of information that is useless from one point of view could very possibly be crucial to the big picture. So, Shikamaru kept repeating last week's events as best as he could, even though it just seemed troublesome to him. Every now and then, Ino would stop him, insisting that he be clear on_exactly_ what he said. She stopped asking after the ninth telling, and instead became silent in deep thought. The blonde didn't even notice when the waitress came back. Shikamaru politely (she was starting to become annoyed; the restaurant was very strict on their no soliciting policy, after all) asked her to come back later.

Meanwhile, Ino was in a state of focus very similar to the one Shikamaru used in battle. It was already pretty obvious to her what had happened. Even if Shikamaru was a genius, he really didn't seem to realize that what he means when he talks isn't necessarily what other people hear. The only problem was Chouji was aware of that too, so there was no reason for him to get so upset. He would have just brushed it off and forget about it later. Something else must have set him off, but what?

Between his silent dinner partner, the anxiety of finally finding out what was wrong with his best friend, and the glares the waitress was sending from across the room, Shikamaru was beginning to feel a little nervous. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette to calm his nerves.

"You can't smoke in here," Ino said absent-mindedly. Suddenly, it was as if a light bulb turned on in her head. _Smoke…don't tell me…he didn't…_

"Shikamaru," she asked suddenly. The shadow ninja jumped a little at the sharp tone, but the blond ignored that. "Were you smoking when you were talking to Chouji?"

"What? What does that have to do with it? Chouji doesn't care if I smoke."

"Just answer the question!"

"…I was about to. He left right after I found my cigarettes and was looking for my lighter."

"Now listen Shikamaru, because this is very important. Your cigarettes, did you call them…fags?"

Shikamaru blinked. How exactly did what he called his smokes matter? He could hear the urgency in the girl's voice, though, so he went with it. After a few minutes of thought, he finally answered. "…Yeah, now that I think about it, I did. So?"

Ino groaned and buried her head in her hands. "Shikamaru…you idiot…"

"What?" The boy clearly didn't have a clue what was going on.

Ino sighed. She was going to have to explain this as best she could. "Okay, listen, Shikamaru. You were right, it was something you said, but more importantly, it was how Chouji heard it."

Shikamaru just blinked. He obviously had no idea what his friend was talking about.

Ino sighed again. "Okay, looks like I'm going to have to walk you through this. You told Chouji that you were grossed out by seeing Naruto and Kiba having sex, right?"

"Well, yeah. I hung out with them when we were kids, so it kind of bothered me seeing people I grew up with going at it. Besides, when is walking in on someone having sex _ever_ a good visual?"

"But Chouji didn't hear that. He heard you being grossed out by two guys having sex. Then you made a comment about your cigarettes, except you called them fags. See where I'm going with this?"

Shikamaru eyes blinked. Then they closed in thought, then opened in realization, and finally went wide in shock as he gasped. Ino smirked at her teammate. "About time you figured it out. Seriously, how exactly are you a genius again?"

Shikamaru's brow furrowed in confusion again. "Wait, why would Chouji care? It's not like I called _him_ gay or anything."

Ino just scoffed and waved her hand in dismissal. "Come on, that's easy. This is_Chouji_ we're talking about here. The fatso's sensitive to anyone getting picked on, so of course he'd be upset if he thought his best friend was a homophobe. I'd be more surprised if he_didn't_ get mad."

Shikamaru hung his head in shame. Chouji really thought that he was a homophobe? Quite frankly, Shikamaru didn't care about who other people slept with. It simply didn't seem like any of his business what his peers and neighbors did behind closed doors, and he was more than willing to respect their privacy. But Chouji thought that…Crap.

The brunette asked in a sullen voice, "What to I do?"

Ino scoffed again. "You apologize. Duh!"

"That's it?"

Ino thought a bit before she spoke again. "…Well, maybe not right away. Wait a few more days, just so Chouji will stop running from you. Then apologize. If it's you, then Chouji will probably forgive you in a heartbeat."

Shikamaru just nodded a little in understanding. "Alright. Oh, and Ino?"

"Hm?" 

"Thanks."

"No problem. Now let's hurry and get something to eat. I'm starving, and it looks like that waitress is about ready to kill us."

* * *

"Hey," Hana suddenly said to her younger escort. Naruto turned to her, a little startled. Up until then, the walk home had been dead silent. Naruto had been to nervous and, as sad as it was, afraid to say anything to the girl, and she was still watching him like a hawk.

After dinner, it had been obvious that Naruto was expected to go home. Kiba had jumped at the chance and offered to walk his "date" home, but his mother insisted that he stay and help clean up. Kiba had argued that, aside from it definitely not being his night to do dishes, it would extremely rude not to escort their guest home. Hana had interjected at this point, and offered to walk Naruto herself. The majority of the household seemed to agree with her.

Hana, seeing as she had the blonde's attention, continued. "Does Kiba know about…" the girl trailed off. After all, she didn't even know if Naruto knew about the demon inside of him, and she certainly wasn't going to be the one to break the news. Besides, it was forbidden to speak about the nine-tailed fox, and you never knew who might be listening.

Naruto, however, did know about the demon, and quite frankly he didn't give a damn if the topic was forbidden or not. "Yeah, Kiba knows about the Kyubi. He said that I smelled strange after we thought that those weird bee ninja had killed Hinata, and he kept hounding me about it afterwards, so I told him."

Hana grunted in acknowledgement, and silence once again fell on the street. It remained that way until they finally reached Naruto's apartment. The blond unlocked his front door, and thanked his escort before entering his small home.

"Why Kiba?" 

Naruto halted in the doorframe. Hana couldn't see his face, but it looked like she had his attention, so she continued. "There are plenty of guys in the village, and you even have friends outside of Konohagakure. Hell, you could have probably gotten with the Kazekage if you wanted. So why did you choose to shack up with my little brother?"

Naruto turned to face Hana. She was looking at him pointedly; there was no way she was leaving without an answer. So, Naruto chose his words, stopped when he decided that he always did better winging it anyways, and began to speak.

"…When I told Kiba about Kyubi, he didn't care. I mean yeah, he freaked a little, but he got over it, and treated me like he always did. It didn't matter to him. It's like…it's like no matter what's inside of me, or how strong I am, or how many times I've messed up, it just doesn't matter with him. When I'm with Kiba, I don't have to be a ninja or a demon or a prankster or whatever. I can just be Uzumaki Naruto, and with him, that's enough."

Naruto could tell by the warmth on his face that he was blushing at this point, but to be honest, he didn't think that he cared. Hana, meanwhile, was still studying his face intently. After a second of neither of them moving, Naruto was beginning to feel a little bit self-conscious.

Then, as if someone had flicked a switch, Hana's posture suddenly relaxed, and she let out a sigh that looked like she had been holding all night. She closed her eyes and rubbed the back of her neck. "Geez, Kiba sure picked a sappy one, huh?" She opened her eyes and looked at the now confused boy in the doorway, but now with softer eyes. "Still, I've got to say, he's got pretty good taste."

Naruto blinked. Twice. Three times. Hana just smiled at him, the same playful canine smile that Naruto had seen on the younger Inuzuka's face countless times. "Well, I _guess_ I approve. He could have definitely done worse, that's for sure. I don't think I could take it if he brought someone like…well, like that Ino girl home."

Naruto was still blinking. "You…approve?"

"Yep!" It was kind of frightening how Hana was so energetic and friendly after the silent observing she had done all night. It was if she had become a female version of Kiba. "Mom didn't know, but I knew Kiba was seeing someone. Never figured it was a guy, though. Seven months, right?" Naruto nodded slowly, eyes wide, and the girl's grin just grew. "Well, seeing as Kiba's been the happiest I've ever seen him the past seven months, I guess you're good for him. And don't let Mom get to you, all right? She does that if everyone who might possibly come into the family. You wouldn't believe the stuff she put _my_ boyfriends through."

With that, Hana turned on her heels and began walking down the stairs of the apartment building. "Well, good night, kid. You did well tonight." She waved over her shoulder as she walked descended. Naruto finally broke out of his daze and responded with a much more animated farewell then he had given before. He closed the door behind him, and immediately went to his bedroom and crashed on his bed, completely exhausted from his night. As he stared up at the ceiling, a smile slowly crept over his face. Maybe tonight hadn't been so bad after all.

Meanwhile, Hana had reached the bottom of the stairs, and stopped for a second. "Kind of an odd time of night to be practicing stealth, isn't it, Hinata?"

Hana chuckled as she heard a soft gasp and footsteps running away. Why was it that everyone always seemed to forget about the Inuzuka's trademark sense of smell? _Well, things will be interesting, at least._ Hana hummed to herself and enjoyed the night air as she began her walk home.

* * *

**Once again, a little explanation. As I said before, since Chouji doesn't have a fan nickname like a lot of the characters do (shadow ninja, dog ninja, etc.), I gave him one and called him the mass ninja. I'm doing the same for Ino. Since her family techniques all involve manipulating the opponent in one way or another, I've dubbed her the "control ninja." Anyone who reads this is free to use this term as much or as little as they want.**

**Also, so I don't offend anyone, let me make it clear that I do NOT dislike ShikaTem. It's probably my favorite of the non-yaoi couples for this universe. However, Ino is very much Chouji's friend, no matter what she says in the original manga, so I need her to be the less-evil suitor (suitoress? I'm really not sure what the term is when women go after someone), so Temari's getting the short stick here.**

**Anyways, make sure you review. I can't really say that it will get me to update faster (damn I'm lazy), but it will influence how I write. Seriously. So go review. Please. Don't make me use puppy-dog eyes, because I suck at them.**


	6. Confessions are Troublesome

**You know, I have no idea how this chapter got so long. I was just writing, and I added a few things, suddenly the thing's over 4,000 words long. Oh, well. I like longer chapters anyways. The rest of them probably won't be as long, though. Or maybe they will be, I don't know. I've thought out how all the chapters will work in terms of plot, but as to specific material and length, I'm playing it all by ear. Anyways, enjoy.**

* * *

Confessions are Troublesome

The hairs on the back of Chouji's neck bristled. He immediately put his guard up. The mass ninja began trying to assess the situation, and find the safest course of action. He didn't bother trying to act normal; he had no reason to hide his apprehension from his adversary, and the more he could put them off balance, the better.

Ino, however, just scoffed. "Give it a rest, Chouji. I just asked if you want to go out for lunch."

Chouji didn't falter. For all his years of training in the art of the shinobi, there was one simple, solemn yet unwritten rule that had been beaten into him: _never_ trust Ino. Not that he didn't like the girl. Ino was a good friend and a reliable comrade. Chouji would trust her with his life in a heartbeat. He just didn't trust her with lunch.

Ino rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Chouji. It's not like it's a date or anything, just lunch."

Chouji's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Oh, _please_. Do I actually need a reason to invite a friend to lunch? What, you don't trust me?"

"No."

"Tsk. Look, I just thought that, without Shikamaru around, you'd be getting lonely, and I'd thought I'd give you a little company, that's all."

Chouji was still weary. Ino didn't usually figure these kinds of things out herself. She'd be too busy caught up in what she wanted to notice how others felt until someone actually told her. Besides, she was part of the reason Shikamaru was so busy now. Not that it mattered to him anymore…

Ino sighed internally as she saw her heavy-set friend falter in depression. Okay, so maybe mentioning Shikamaru wasn't the best idea, given their current state of affairs. "Okay, look. I know that I've been kind of ignoring you with this whole Shikamaru thing going on, and I've been feeling a little…well…guilty about it."

Chouji thought about it. Ino may not have done compassion, but she did do guilt. Currently, she was clutching her arm and refusing to meet his eyes as if she were too ashamed. She certainly _looked_ sincere. Then again, she was a kunoichi. Looking sincere while plotting the best way to kill a target was a part of the job.

Ino looked off to the side and scratched her cheek. "And besides, it would probably make Shikamaru feel better if you weren't by yourself all the time."

Ah, so _that_ was it. Good intentions and guilt aside, this was yet another attempt for Ino to get a shot at Shikamaru. This time, she seemed to be trying to get to her crush by going through said crush's best friend. Actually, now that he thought about it, he was a little surprised she hadn't tried this already.

Chouji sighed. Even though he was being used and knew it, Ino had struck a sore spot. Ever since he'd basically run away from his best friend a week ago, he had been by himself. Of course, he knew that he had been foolish, but what after Shikamaru had said, he just couldn't stand to stay there anymore, and now he was too ashamed of his behavior to talk to the shadow user. He couldn't deny that he felt lonely, and Ino was decent company. Besides, she was asking him out to _lunch_.

"…Hang on a minute. I'll go get my wallet."

* * *

"Slow down, Chouji. The food isn't going to get up and leave."

Chouji made no indication that he had heard Ino's chiding. Over three years of listening to her talk about how much of a glutton he was allowed him to ignore the insults, even if they were a little less biting and more friendly now. He did slow down a little, though. After all, he was eating lunch with a lady, and his parents had made sure to drill in some table manners when he was younger. Sure, if it were just another guy like Naruto, he'd eat like it was going out of style. Women, however, he had been taught to be a little more polite to.

Ino just lazily poked at her salad, having a hard time finishing it. Chouji had made her get a large one. She could make fun of his overeating all she wanted, but the mass ninja wasn't going to let his friend turn anorexic just because she was on one of her crazy diets. Still, it was a good salad, and Chouji seemed to enjoy his barbequed pork. Then again, he'd probably enjoy barbequed pork if it came out of a trashcan.

"So," Ino began, stirring up the conversation again, "how'd that mission go? The one in the Land of Flowers?"

"Pretty good, I think." Chouji had been sent about a month ago on a mission to rescue a young lord from brigands. "It wasn't that hard. Shino had scouted their hideout with his beetles, and Tenten took care of all the perimeter guards. All I had to do was rush in, grab the lord, and get out in one piece. I did get in a few good hits, though." Even if it had been a while ago, he still hadn't told Ino the story, so he didn't mind repeating it.

"That's not I heard," Ino said in a singsong voice.

"Hmm?"

"Sakura let me read the mission report. You didn't just rush in and out. You bulldozed in out of nowhere, beat up several ninja, then Super Expanded yourself and carried the kid out in the palm of your hand. Have to say, Chouji, I'm impressed. That boy said he felt like he was in a storybook, sitting in your palm like that."

"Well, I…Wait a minute, why did Sakura let you read the mission report? I know those are supposed to be confidential."

"Well, she said that she wanted my opinion."

"Opinion on what? Proper handwriting?"

"No, you dunce, on weather you'd make it as a jonin or not."

Chouji's jaw dropped at that. "You don't mean…"

Ino waved her hand in dismissal. "Don't get too excited. It's still way too early for you to be promoted. But, according to Sakura, Lady Hokage was discussing potential candidates with Genma and Raido and your name came up. They aren't really considering you yet, but apparently, since jonin are the ones that responsible for training genin, being able to install safety into your charges like you did for that lord is important."

Chouji didn't know if he should jump for joy, blush in modesty, or grin like an idiot. Instead, he just sat there, shocked expression still set firmly on his face, and his food all but forgotten. He was actually being considered for a jonin position! He knew it wouldn't happen right away, he was only sixteen, after all, and had become a chunnin less than two years ago. Still, it looked like he could actually make it in a few years. He really couldn't have been happier. He could feel the corners of his mouth slowly rise on his face.

Ino smiled inwardly. She could tell from the expression on her friend's face that she had just made his day. Good. Chouji really hadn't had much good news lately, so seeing him smile that same dopey grin he usually wore put Ino a little more at ease. A depressed Chouji could make anyone feel guilty, even if you hadn't done anything.

"They did mention that you didn't have a lot of high-level jutsu, though, just your standard clan techniques. Maybe you should try learning some new moves."

Chouji pulled himself out of his stupor, and thought before answering. "Actually, there is something that I've been working on…" When he saw that he had piqued Ino's interest, he continued. "You know what happens when I eat one of my chili pepper pills, right?"

"The red one?" Chouji nodded. "Your body converts its mass into chakra, and you get super powerful. But isn't that dangerous? The last time you used it, you nearly killed yourself."

"That's what I've been working on. You see, the reason it's so dangerous is because the pill can't think for itself, so it doesn't stop working, even when there's nothing left to convert. But, if I can find a way to control the transformation on my own, I should be able to activate that state without the pill, then stop it before it starts causing me any real damage."

Ino stared at him, eyes wide. She had hardly ever seen Chouji use the Akamichi pills because of the tremendous strain they put on the boy's body. She hadn't even seen him take the final red pill before, due to its almost guaranteed fatality to the user. The only way that she knew what the pill did was by what Chouji told her and the large depression that had been left in that large sound ninja's corpse. But, if Chouji could harness that power whenever he wished, he could very well become as powerful as Kakashi or Lady Hokage herself. "Can you actually do that, Chouji?"

Her friend lightly shook his head. "That's the problem; I don't know if I can or not. There's no record of anyone in my family ever trying to use it before. Of course, the obvious plan of action would be to train by taking the pill and getting used to it's effects, but…"

"You can't use that pill safely even once, let alone the number of times you'd need it to train," Ino finished for him.

"Right. Besides, those pills are actually very hard to make. My dad told me that, between gathering the rare materials for it and finding a skilled enough apothecary to make the pill, it could take up to two years to make. Normally, it isn't a problem, since the side effects usually prevent someone from taking more than one. After all, you can't use another if you're dead."

Ino had a thoughtful expression on her face as she processed everything Chouji just told her. "So, basically, you can't really train with the pill, since they're too rare to use enough in training, and even one will most likely kill you, and to train you'd need to use it who knows how many times."

Chouji nodded. "Exactly. I was going to ask the Hyugas for help, since they have so much information on manipulating internal chakra. Unfortunately, they're all pretty tight-lipped about their information. The only one that would probably be willing to help me is Hinata, and right now…"

Ino nodded in understanding as Chouji trailed off. "Hinata's not exactly…together right now. Can't say I totally blame her, though. This whole thing with Naruto and Kiba probably almost killed her."

Chouji just nodded in agreement. He wasn't totally comfortable talking about the apparently first two gay people in Konohagakure, since he would probably be considered the third, but talking with Ino usually meant talking about gossip. It was also a little more lighthearted with her. It was as if Ino could make even the most somber subjects feel trivial, and considering his current problems and how they related to 'this whole thing with Naruto and Kiba,' he could use that right now.

Ino took a sip from her water glass, and thought before she spoke again. "Still, I suppose she should have seen it coming. I mean, looking back, there were signs and all. Like one time, I saw Kiba at Ichraku, and he was ordering this huge thing of ramen to go."

Chouji groaned and rolled his eyes. "Naruto's not the only person in the village who eats ramen, Ino. In fact, there are probably only four or five people at most who don't eat it. And Kiba always gets big orders of food so that he can share them with Akamaru. The only reason he got it to go was probably because the dog's too big to eat on the counter now."

Ino looked a little shocked at how quickly her observation had been shot down, and Chouji continued before she could think up another one. "Face it, Ino. No one noticed the clues because there were none. When Naruto wants to hide something, it stays hidden, trust me."

Ino relented with a sigh. "I suppose you're right," she said, twirling her fork absentmindedly on a piece of lettuce. "It just bugs me that those two of all people managed to put one over on me. Anyways, about your training, I think you should to talk to Lady Hokage. I think Sakura mentioned once that she can manipulate the cells in her body somewhat, and that sounds kind of like what you're doing. She's also an expert on human anatomy, which could also help, and you really should have some sort of medic on hand for this kind of thing, anyways."

Chouji thought about that. It actually sounded like a good idea. "I think I'll do that. Thanks, Ino."

"No problem," she responded. Then, because she'd probably never get the opportunity to say this to Chouji again, she added, "Now hurry up and finish before your food gets cold."

* * *

Shikamaru sighed as he looked up at the clouds. Today was perfect. Temari was back in her own village, Ino was probably off somewhere, reminiscing about the "date" that they had been on the day before, and the rest of his fans seemed to be preoccupied right now. Apparently, Inuzuka Hana had told one of her friends that Naruto had been over for an "observed date" with Kiba, and that had got all the girls focused back on those two again. The whole thing had been just too troublesome for him from the time he had barged/crash landed in that damn apartment.

Still, it had gotten him another day of freedom, and now he was sitting in his special spot, looking up at the clouds overhead. Behind them was a beautiful azure sky, and the temperature was just right. Yes, today was absolutely perfect.

Or it would have been, if Chouji wasn't still mad at him.

Shikamaru sighed again. He really wanted to write off this whole thing between he and his best friend as troublesome as he would usually do but couldn't. That would imply that it was all someone else's fault, and although he didn't want to admit, this time it was all on him. He was the one who had opened his big mouth and hadn't considered his words. Chouji, as sensitive as he was, had every right to be angry with him right now. Shikamaru had never once in his life considered himself a bigot, and it actually kind of hurt to be seen as one.

What he really wanted to do right now was go and grovel at Chouji's feet, begging for forgiveness. Okay, so he wouldn't actually be groveling. More like give an offhanded hello. And the begging would be more of a sullen "sorry." Still, it would get his point across. Still, Ino had told him to wait a few days first, so wait he would. And this left him in his favorite spot, looking at the clouds and, for the first time in his life, getting bored with it.

Then, partially out of boredom, partially out of curiosity, and partially out of sheer serendipity, he looked down at the street below just in time to see his two teammates. They were chatting happily. Chouji had a satisfied smile on his face, so Shikamaru guessed that they had just eaten. Ino was smiling too, and the two seemed very animated in their conversation.

Shikamaru frowned at this. He had just told Ino about the problems between the he and Chouji, and now she was hanging out with him? This just didn't seem right, and it suddenly dawned on the young genius that the girl telling him to stay away from Chouji for a few days may have just been a ploy to talk to the mass ninja without interference. Still, Ino wouldn't do anything sordid or cruel to Chouji of all people, and she wouldn't risk pulling something that could hinder her current romantic pursuits…right?

Shikamaru couldn't shake off the feeling of suspicion, and right as they began to disappear from view, quickly jumped down from the rooftop and followed after them. He wasn't close enough to actually hear anything they said in the din of the busy street, because if he could, that would be akin to stalking, but he stayed close enough behind so that he could intercede if anything actually happened, like if a vat of honey and feathers suddenly poured over Chouji.

Still, nothing happened. There were no pranks, and by Chouji's expression the conversation was entirely pleasant. It actually occurred to Shikamaru that, if Ino wasn't so obsessed with him right now, she and Chouji would actually make a pretty good couple. For some reason that he didn't feel he had the time to explore right now, this thought seemed to agitate him, and he began to quicken his pace to eavesdrop a little.

The two stepped off the main street and began walking into an alley. Perfect. Without the noise of the busy street, he could hear them better.

* * *

"He misses you, you know."

Chouji looked at his companion in confusion. Whatever Ino just said had come completely out of nowhere.

Ino elaborated. "Shikamaru misses you. He told me what happened last week, and how you've been avoiding him ever since."

Chouji didn't like how quiet it seemed all of a sudden. Weren't they in a crowded street just a second ago.

Ino carried on. "He's not a homophobe, either. He didn't even realize that he said anything wrong. I actually had to explain it to him."

Chouji stopped in his tracks while Ino kept walking down the alley. "W-What did you tell him, exactly."

Ino stopped now and looked over her shoulder at her suddenly somber friend. "I explained that he had basically insulted Naruto and Kiba for being a couple and that you, being sensitive to others being bullied, got mad at him for it."

Chouji let out a sigh he hadn't realized he'd been holding. So he hadn't been exposed after all.

"Don't worry. He doesn't know how you feel."

For a brief second, Chouji's heart stopped.

"W-What are you talking about, Ino?" Chouji tried to play it off nonchalant, but even he could tell he was failing miserably.

Ino, on the other hand, looked like the cat who caught the canary. In a clearly faked sweet smile, she answered. "I'm talking about how you're in love with him."

Chouji's was shaking now, and he knew it. "That's nuts, Ino. I don't know what the hell you're talking about." He brushed past her and continued down the alley. He had a very sudden urge to lock himself in his room for the rest of the year.

Ino let him take a few paces before she spoke. "Is it nuts?" Chouji stopped at that, facing away from her, stiff as a board. Ino continued, "You confront people when you think they're insulting someone, Chouji, not run away from them. If you heard what Shikamaru had said, you wouldn't have just ran like that. You would have said something to him about it, like you always do when you two disagree. The only reason why you would just leave like that is if you were afraid of confronting him, and the only reason you'd be afraid of confronting a supposedly homophobic friend was if you were gay yourself.

"Figure that out, and then it becomes painfully obvious who you would like. After all, you spend almost every waking moment with Shikamaru, and you don't really hang out with any other guys. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever heard you talk about girls the entire time I've known you."

Chouji just stood there, silent as the grave. Ino sighed, and here voice softened into a more caring tone. "Look, Chouji, it's only you, me and the trashcans here. Anything you tell me, I promise I'll keep quiet. It's not like I can really blame you for falling for him. After all, what's _not_ to like about Shikamaru? With all the girls suddenly monopolizing his time, I'd say it's natural that you started to develop feelings for him."

Chouji stayed still, and then after a few minutes let out a defeated sigh as his shoulders fell. "Ino," he said in a tired sounding tone, "you're wrong."

The blond girl just sighed. "Chouji…"

"I'm not lying, Ino. I didn't get feelings for him because of all of those stupid girls." Chouji finally turned around, his eyes welling up and a sad smile on his face. "I fell in love with him long before that."

Ino blinked. "Before? Chouji, how long before?"

Chouji looked down at the ground instead of at Ino. He just couldn't take watching someone judge him right now. "I don't know. Maybe after our first chunnin exams? Definitely before we had gone out to find Sasuke."

Now Ino's eyes were widening. "But-but Chouji, that was over three _years_ ago!"

"Yeah, I know, but even back then, he believed in me when no one else did, and everything that you, and Temari, and every else is noticing about him now, I saw years ago. But I was okay with him not liking me back. Really! As long as he let me stay near him and hang out with him, I was happy..."

Ino's face became concerned—real concern—as she looked at the young man who looked as if he was about to cry. "Chouji…"

* * *

Shikamaru didn't move. He couldn't. His entire body refused to budge. He had hidden himself behind a garbage can so that he could listen in on their conversation. Of course, since they had stopped moving, it was easier to hear them. Now, though, he wasn't sure if that was a blessing or a curse.

When Ino had first started telling Chouji about what they had talked about on their date, he had been glad that he had followed them. Apparently, his hunch was right, and Ino had been plotting something. She had told him to wait a few days, not to give Chouji more time to settle down and be more apt to listen, but to corner Chouji before Shikamaru could get to him. Still, he didn't get why Chouji had suddenly become so nervous.

Then Ino provided an answer. When Shikamaru heard her reasoning, he thought that she had gone insane. Chouji? In love with him? That was impossible…right? Then, he heard Chouji confess to the girl. Shikamaru had frozen after that. His best friend's words echoed in his head, and he found that he couldn't focus on anything else but those words and the scene in front of him. So of course, he hadn't noticed the cat.

Said cat had decided at that moment to leap down from a windowsill onto the lid of the trashcan that Shikamaru was using for cover. Unfortunately, the cat had a little too much forward momentum, and the tin cover had been placed on the can rather haphazardly, so when the cat landed, the entire can fell over with a large clang, while the unlucky feline added it's own yelp to the noise.

The sudden sound managed to snap the shadow ninja out of his trance. Unfortunately, it also got the attention of Chouji and Ino, who could now see him as plain as day. Both of their faces were covered in shock, but Chouji's quickly changed into one of pure terror. He quickly turned away and ran down the alley.

Shikamaru's brain was still a little dazed, so his body was mostly running on autopilot, and right now it was telling him to catch his friend before he left. Shikamaru quickly wove a few hand seals, and directed his shadow to chase after Chouji. The formless shroud managed to tag the chubby young man before he could escape and held him in place. Shikamaru relaxed, only now realizing that he had become tense when Chouji had run.

Suddenly, Shikamaru doubled over in pain. He felt as if his right arm had just exploded. He felt his shadow snap back to him, and looked up from where he was on the ground just in time to see Chouji, his right arm now four times its normal size, disappear around the corner. Then he blacked out.

* * *

**Just so I'm clear, I have NO idea how Chouji's powered up state works. All I know is that he takes the red pill, thins, grows wings, becomes godly powerful, and then dies. Pretty much everything I wrote here about it is conjecture on my part. Still, Back during his last fight in Part 1, he could only use partial and super expansion after taking the pills, and in Part 2 he could use them without the pills, so I thought that it seemed possible.**

**Hopefully, this chapter had all the emotion that I really wanted it to. I've had the scene in the alley planned out since I started this story, so I hope it turned out okay. Kudos to anyone who can figure out how Chouji escaped Shikamaru's hold, and I promise it'll be explained in the next chapter. Until then!**


	7. Reflecting is Troublesome

**Before I begin the chapter, I want to say something. I realize that it's something that I haven't really said yet: Thank you. I may not say it very often, but I am VERY thankful to everyone who reviews, favorites, or alerts this story. Even just seeing the hit counter for it go up really makes my day. So once again, thank you. I really am very grateful.**

**Now, I know that I said that I'd explain Chouji's escape technique this chapter (see previous ending author note), but unfortunately it isn't here. I apologize for that, but I can promise that it will be in the next one, so if you care, just hang tight for that. And by all means, you're welcome to guess at it.**

**Anyways, I'm done talking, so on with the chapter!**

* * *

Reflecting is Troublesome

"Shikamaru, are you listening?"

Even though it was barely over a week ago that he had heard those words before, Shikamaru didn't bother to respond this time. He had a lot on his mind, and Temari was being troublesome. He just hoped she didn't decide to open her fan and send him flying for ignoring her.

He really couldn't fault Temari for being upset, though. He _was_ being inattentive, but right now he simply had too much to think about and didn't have the time to placate the foreign jonin. Temari, of course, just having managed to acquire a new peacekeeping mission to Konohagakure (a fairly easy task when you have a brother that's the Kazekage and feels incredibly guilty for his past cruelties), had no idea of the events that had been transpiring while she was gone. Predictably, the wind ninja had upon arrival sought out Shikamaru and promptly attached herself to him, taking slight notice that Ino was nowhere in sight.

Shikamaru, however, didn't need nor want company right now. He needed to think, and that meant that Temari was nothing more than a bother at the moment.

"Shikamaru, come _on_. You went out with that little brat, the least you can do is treat me to lunch."

Once again, Shikamaru ignored the blond, lost in his own thoughts. Even though he was a "genius" that could think up over 200 battle strategies and tactics within a matter of minutes, he was completely drawing a blank now. After all, what's one supposed to do when your very male best friend confesses his love for you, then finds out you've heard him do so, and is now avoiding you even more than before you knew? Even just wording it in his mind gave him a headache.

It wasn't as if he could talk to anyone, either. Asuma-sensei, his usual first choice for advice, had passed away. Chouji was at the center of the whole mess. Kiba and Naruto…well, they had their own fair share of problems right now, and Shikamaru was considerate enough to not give them more. After the stunt she pulled, he was not speaking with Ino at all now, and there was NO way he was going to talk to his parents about this.

Temari was beginning to get angry now. When she had first found the boy that morning, she had been thankful that the little Yamanaka brat was nowhere in sight, and absolutely thrilled when Shikamaru didn't run or protest in any way to her linking her arm with his. However, the boy obviously had his head in the clouds today, more so than usual. The only way that Temari knew the boy noted her presence was the non-committal grunts he gave every now and then. Had her relationship with the shadow ninja been more passive, she would have noticed that something was very wrong with him. Unfortunately for them both, Temari was currently more concerned about claiming the boy at the moment than worrying about him.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru was still lost in his own thoughts. His mind kept on going back to that confession. Aside from the obvious, what stuck out the most to him about the whole thing was that these weren't new feelings. Chouji had said that he had felt that way for _years_. During that time, the two of them had trained, ate, fought, worked, and slept (in separate sleeping bags, of course) together. How in the world did Shikamaru not notice how his best friend felt? Of course, Shikamaru would be the first to admit that romantic relationships were not his forte, but still, he should have noticed something. He racked his brain, recalling all their time together, trying to pinpoint any signs or hints that his friend might have given him.

"Grr…Shikamaru!"

There was nothing. Not one blush, or stutter, or anything else. Chouji had done what everyone in the village, including Shikamaru, never thought that he'd be able to. He had kept a secret.

Shikamaru knew that a part of him should have been angry for that. After all, they were best friends, and weren't best friends supposed to tell each other everything? There were, however, two reasons why he wasn't upset with Chouji at all. One was the obvious fact that Shikamaru was the focus of that secret, so of course Chouji wouldn't tell it to him. That would be the same as a love confession, and naturally Chouji was afraid of that.

The other reason was Shikamaru's concern for his best friend. Chouji had kept this bottled up inside of him for over three years now. Ninja or not, Shikamaru couldn't believe that was healthy. Lazy and passive as the shadow ninja was, even he would seek out advice from Asuma-sensei or his father from time to time when he had problems. Chouji, however, had kept this quiet from everyone. How had he managed to cope? How could he still have been smiles and sunshine all that time? He heard Chouji's words repeat themselves in his head:

"_As long as he let me stay near him and hang out with him, I was happy..."_

Happy? How could he have been happy? Shikamaru knew that, if he had ever fallen for someone, he wouldn't have been able to go for three years without telling anyone about it.

"Shikamaru, if you don't say something, I swear…"

Of course, that train of thought had brought him to another subject that he wasn't at all sure he liked thinking about. He had heard Chouji confession, even if he wasn't supposed to, so how did he feel about it?

Aside from the basic outline he had planned for his life when he was younger (marry a nice girl, have two kids, pay the bills, etc.), Shikamaru had never really thought about dating or romance before. After all, he was still young, and growing up with Ino and her various diets and Sasuke plots had led him to the conclusion that the whole mess of dating was entirely too troublesome. So, he had never had a date aside from games of Shogi with Asuma-sensei, and stayed out of the conversation whenever the guys he hung out with started talking about how pretty a girl was. He had plenty of time, and if "love" caused girls like Ino, Sakura and Temari to transform into hyenas, then he wanted none of it.

"Shikamaru! Gah!"

Because of this inexperience, however, Shikamaru had no idea how he should feel after he heard Chouji's confession. He had been shocked when he heard the confession of course, as well as guilty for not noticing his friend's feelings sooner. However, he didn't, or rather couldn't explain how he had felt emotionally. He knew enough to know that he should have felt _something_, and he had. Unfortunately, he had no idea what that something was.

He had felt light. That was the best way that Shikamaru could describe it. It didn't make a lot of sense to him, but the second he had heard Chouji speak the words, he had felt as if, for a moment, everything was silent, and if he wasn't careful, he was going to float away. Of course, Shikamaru had no idea what feeling "light" meant. He could have simply been lightheaded from the shock, or he could have subconsciously wished that he were anywhere but in that alley at the moment. Heck, for all he knew, it could have meant that he had been-

_BANG!_

Shikamaru fell back into a sitting position on the ground. After rubbing his now aching forehead a little, he looked up. In his dazed state, it took him a little while to realize that he had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts, he had actually walked into a wall. He blushed in embarrassment when he realized his folly. He hadn't done that since he was seven!

He quickly looked around, still embarrassed, to see if anyone had seen his little accident. He was surprised that Temari hadn't made fun of him for it. Now that he thought about it, why hadn't she tried to stop him? It was then that he realized that Temari was no longer in sight, and Shikamaru wondered when it was that the girl had left.

* * *

Ino was, for all intensive purposes, a nice young lady. Even though she did not feel as though she should be subservient to a man or meek in any way, she did believe that there were certain behavioral protocols that she as a lady should follow. One such protocol was her use of language. While boys could use rough words as they saw fit, girls should speak eloquently, and without curses or obscenities. Ino had always followed this rule. After all, what man would want to marry some rough and seedy woman?

So for Ino to admit to herself that she felt like crap, it was a big deal. Then again, considering how she had royally screwed everything up last week, it wasn't so surprising.

Ino was not a fool by any means. The minute Shikamaru had told her about how the two of them had talked about Naruto and Kiba, she knew exactly why Chouji had left. Admittedly, she couldn't totally fault Shikamaru for not noticing how his friend felt about him. The shadow ninja was a guy, after all, and this sort of observation needed a woman's touch.

Still, even though she knew, she wasn't all that sure that she should tell Shikamaru. She had no idea how he would have reacted if he found out that his best friend was gay, after all, never mind in love with him. Plus, that meant that the mass ninja was now competition. Ino had no qualms fighting over Shikamaru against Temari, but Chouji? The fight over Sasuke had nearly destroyed her friendship with Sakura, and Ino could openly admit that the day the pink haired girl broke off their friendship was one of the most miserable of her young life. She did NOT want to go through that again.

So, she had kept her silence. Instead of telling Shikamaru the real reason, she had fed him a story that was not only plausible, but also most likely true to some extent. The boy had bought it, and Ino advised him further. Considering the two parties involved, Ino believed that the whole matter would be resolved if Shikamaru simply apologized to Chouji. So, that's what she told him to do—after a few days.

In her defense, those few days were justifiable. Not only would Chouji be more open to talking as time passed, but also Shikamaru deserved to wallow in guilt for a while for being an idiot, no matter how cute he was. Still, her main goal was to get some time alone with Chouji before Shikamaru got to him. She and the chubby boy may have been friends, but if he was gunning for Shikamaru too…well, she didn't know what to do. Ino decided that the best course of action would be to gather more information before deciding on a plan, and the best way to find such information was straight from the horse's, or in this case butterfly's mouth.

She was a little surprised at Chouji's initial resistance. She had thought that one mention of food and he would have come running. Fortunately, she had a contingency plan, and had managed to get her friend to come to lunch by making it seem more about her than him.

The meal itself had been entirely natural. She needed him to trust her by the end of lunch so that he would be more open to admitting his feelings. Fortunately, Chouji was good company anyways, and the meal had been not only pleasant, but rather fun as well. She was more than happy to tell him about Lady Hokage's conference over jonin applicants (which had been completely true, by the way), and had been surprised at how serious he was over his own training. To be honest, assuming Chouji ever spoke to her again, she would have liked to do it again sometime.

Then came the confrontation. That had been a surprise for her as well as Chouji. Ino had assumed that Chouji's attraction to Shikamaru had stemmed from the current fight over him. The two of them were best friends, but now Chouji was losing his friend to Ino and all those other girls. Upon realizing this, Chouji would naturally want Shikamaru back, and that intense want would have morphed into a different kind of want, namely the romantic kind.

That scenario had been blown away very quickly. Ino hadn't been acting shocked when Chouji had told her he had felt that way for years. How was that even possible? Granted, she had been just a little kid at the time, but it had taken all of a week for Sakura to discover her feelings for Sasuke. Chouji had hidden his feelings for three years. Fooling Shikamaru was one thing, but she should have at least noticed something! She thought back to what Chouji had said at the restaurant, about how no one knew about Naruto and Kiba's thing together because they didn't want to know. Apparently, Chouji was speaking from personal experience.

Then Shikamaru showed himself, and everything just went downhill from there. The shadow ninja was not supposed to be there! He was supposed to be holed up somewhere, planning out the millions of ways he could beg Chouji for forgiveness. Yet there he was, plain as day.

After Chouji somehow managed to escape Shikamaru's hold on his shadow (how did he do that, anyways?), Ino had gone to get the unconscious boy some medical attention, then quietly slipped away and went home. She was fully aware of how much she had just screwed everything up for her friends.

Now, she was just sitting on her bed, looking out her window to the sky. She had been avoiding her teammates since the incident, partially out of shame, and partially out of fear that they would punch her face in. Not that she could blame them if they did. Still, she had not been idle the whole time. She had made this whole mess, and now she had to fix it, or at least patch it up a little.

Ino got off her bed and went to leave the house. She already had a plan. It was very simple so far, and probably wouldn't help that much, but she needed to start somewhere, and this was as good as any. After reviewing it in her mind for a few days, and deciding that this one, at least, wouldn't lead to a fiasco like her last plan had, she set out to put it into action.

Now, she just needed to find Sakura.

* * *

**A/N: That's it for now. I'm not saying anything about Ino's plan right now, so you'll just have to wait. It's nothing that big, really. Anyways, I'll see you all next time. Can't wait, personally. The next chapter is going to be **_**so**_** fun to write! You'll see what I mean.**


	8. Conferring is Troublesome

**A/N: 'blinks' Okay, how did this chapter get to be so long? Seriously, I hadn't planned for it to be this long, but one thing (or rather, one word) led to another, and, well…**

**Anyways, before I begin, I want to mention that this story is actually almost finished. Really. After this one, there are only three more chapters. So, it's kind of in the home stretch. Just thought that you all should know.**

**Now this chapter has a lot in it, so get ready. In here is Chouji's shadow-escape method, Ino's plan, and two of the most fun scenes that I have ever written. So, away we go.**

* * *

Conferring is Troublesome

"Wait, you _like_ Shikamaru?"

Chouji sighed. "Yes, I like Shikamaru, now can you please listen?" He could feel his hands ripping at the grass on the hill that they were sitting on in annoyance. Chouji understood his current companion's confusion, but this was the fifth time he had had to repeat himself. It was starting to get a little frustrating.

Chouji knew that Naruto had his own problems to deal with right now, but he really needed to talk to someone. With what Ino had done, though, he literally had no one right now, so he sought out his old childhood playmate. At least he would be less awkward to talk to about this.

Unfortunately, Naruto couldn't seem to wrap his brain around that Chouji had fallen for his best friend. "Sorry, but…I mean…I never thought that you would be gay."

"You're not really one to talk right now."

"Heh, heh, yeah, you're right. So exactly what happened? Does this have something to do with why Ino's been holed up in her room lately?"

Chouji blinked in confusion. "Ino's been…wait, how do you know that?"

"Sakura's been worried about her the past few days. She said Ino's been kind of meek lately and staying away from Shikamaru."

Chouji mulled over that for a minute. From what it Naruto had just said, it sounded like Ino really felt guilty over the whole incident. So maybe she really didn't know that Shikamaru was there after all, and the confession was supposed to be private. Still… "After what she did, she should be."

"Eh? What did she do to you?"

Chouji sighed again, this time out of nervousness. This was going to be hard for him to talk about. Then again, it was also the reason he had sought Naruto out in the first place. So, he began, "last week, she invited me out to lunch, and then afterwards she got me to confess about Shikamaru."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "And that fangirl let you live?"

Chouji chuckled at the weak joke. "She isn't that horrible, least not to me. But that's not really the problem. You see, I thought it was just the two of us, and from what you said, maybe she thought so to, but it wasn't. Shikamaru…overheard."

"…Oh…"

"…Yeah…"

Silence. Naruto was going over what he had just been told, and Chouji simply waited. It felt surprisingly good to get that off of his shoulders, especially after the torch he had been carrying in secret for over three years now. Just letting someone else know about his biggest problems always felt good, but unfortunately his only available outlet had always been Shikamaru. While he could confide in his lazy friend about his insecurities as a ninja and his size, he couldn't do that with this crush he had been holding for him. Silently, he thanked Naruto for simply existing, so that he did have someone to talk to about this now.

Of course, unlike Shikamaru, who would have listened, said that something was troublesome, and then let the subject drop, Naruto pursued the topic further. "So, what did he say?"

"I didn't stick around to find out. After I found out he was there, I just ran. I thought that Ino had set the whole thing up. Shikamaru tried to stop me, but I broke out of his hold and got out of there as fast as I could."

Naruto suddenly perked his head up. He looked somewhat confused. "Did you say hold? As in his shadow? How the hell did you get out of that?"

Chouji was a bit taken aback. "Naruto," he said a little crossly, "that really isn't the issue here…"

"C'mon, Chouji! Tell me!" Naruto seemed to be genuinely excited about this. Of course, it was public knowledge that, once ninja of the Nara clan had you ensnared, you had pretty much lost, so of course a way to escape would pique someone's interest. Especially someone like Naruto, who was always looking for ways to become stronger.

Chouji sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you. To be honest, though, I think that I may be the only one who can actually do it."

Naruto nodded energetically, giving the mass ninja his full attention. Said ninja couldn't help but think that he looked a little like a puppy that was about to be fed. Not exactly a characteristic expected for the supposed next Hokage, but then again it could have just been Kiba's influence on the blond.

"Okay, first of all, you need to understand how Shikamaru's Shadow Imitation works. He sends his shadow towards the shadow of whatever or whomever he wants to hold down or control. When the shadow reaches the target, it ensnares the shadow so tightly that it can only move wherever the shadow moves. It's kind of like trapping a fly in a jar; the fly can only move around in the jar, but not outside of it. The difference here is that the Shikamaru's shadow conforms to the shape of the target while still restraining it, like if the jar the fly is caught in is exactly the same shape and size of the fly. After that, Shikamaru can then move his shadow, the opposing shadow has to move with Shikamaru's shadow, and the target has to move with their shadow.

"However, if you go back to the fly-in-a-jar example, if the fly somehow grew larger in the fly-shaped jar, than the jar wouldn't be able to hold the fly anymore and would break open. It's the same with the shadows. If the held shadow could suddenly grow significantly larger, the user's hold would break and there would be a backlash.

"Of course, there really isn't any way to suddenly make your shadow bigger like that. However…" Chouji raised his fist and let it expand a few inches, "…I can increase my own body mass with partial expansion, which in turn makes my shadow bigger, and so I can escape. If course, using partial expansion under duress like that hurts like hell, but still…"

Naruto blinked a few times, processing everything Chouji had just explained to him. Then he formed a hug grin on his face. "That's incredible Chouji! I can't believe you actually managed to figure out how to do that on your own! I mean, you're probably the only person that Shikamaru can never beat now."

"I doubt that. He still has plenty of other techniques, like his shadow sewing," Chouji said while chuckling. He wondered exactly how much of his explanation Naruto had actually understood. It was hard to tell sometimes if the blond boy was a fool or a genius. Still, Chouji let himself enjoy the free praise. He may not have been as insecure as he once was, but it was still nice to get compliments once in a while.

After a few minutes of friendly silence, Naruto finally got back to the real topic. "You're going to have to talk to him sooner or later, you know."

"I'm okay with later."

Now Naruto sighed. "Chouji, come on. You can't just avoid him like this. He's your best friend."

"Yeah, but…"

"No buts, Chouji. Look, worse case scenario, he stays mad for a few days, gets tired of it, and will just say that you're being troublesome and move on. I mean this is Shikamaru we're talking about. He can't stay mad at anyone for more than an hour."

Naruto did have a point. Shikamaru was simply too lazy to hold a grudge against anyone with very few exceptions.

Naruto went on. "Besides, you never know. He might even like you back."

"Hmm. It's possible I suppose."

Chouji and Naruto blinked at each other. That hadn't been either one of them. They both jumped up and spun around towards the voice. Behind them sat a dark, wolf-like dog donning an eye patch. "After all," Kuromaru continued, "it's not as if he's shown any interest in those girls throwing himself at him these days."

"Wha-WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" Naruto shouted at the dog at the top of his lungs. Chouji stood by, keeping silent. Both boys were wearing the same part indignant, part embarrassed expressions on their faces. Chouji, however, was blushing a little deeper, while Naruto looked noticeably angrier.

Kuromaru kept his cool demeanor. "I've been following you, of course, you dumb pup. You haven't been out of my sight the entire day."

"WHAT?"

The dog ignored Naruto's outburst and instead turned his attention to heavier human. "Now listen, you're interested in that lazy kid with his hair tied up in the back, right?" Chouji nodded dumbly. "Then just ask him out. I don't see why you humans make such a big deal out of these things. If you want him, then just take him already. After all, even if he turns you down, at least you both know where you stand, right?"

"Wait a second!" Naruto was clearly not happy being ignored. "You've been trying to scare me away for two weeks now, but you're giving him your approval?"

"You're dating Kiba, pup. He's not," Kuromaru stated matter-of-factly, as if that had always been obvious.

"So you're saying that if I was seeing anyone else, you'd be supportive, but now you're stalking me just because I'm dating an Inuzuka?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Grrr…you hypocrite!"

Slowly, Chouji began chuckling. Then he stopped holding it and let his laughter escape freely. There was just something so very funny about watching Naruto argue with a dog, even if the dog was arguing back. The two of them heard his laughter, and stopped fighting to look at him.

"Heh, heh, heh…sorry…it's just…you two…" Chouji finally regained control of his voice and spoke normally. "Listen, thanks for the advice, both of you, but I need to get going now. My dad wants me to pick up some things for dinner. See you guys later."

"Hey, Chouji!" Naruto called out to him as the mass ninja was leaving. Chouji stopped and looked over his shoulder towards his friend. "I'm not saying that you have to do it right away. If you need some time, then fine. Just talk to him though. Even if he does say no, if you don't confront him, then you won't be able to move on."

Chouji responded with a solemn nod, then ran off. Neither the blond nor the dog moved, and they stood still in a decidedly un-companiable silence. Finally, Kuromaru spoke up. "Hey, pup?"

"What?"

"I need you to do me a favor."

* * *

Shikamaru had never, EVER thought that he would say this, but right now, he really wished Temari was still with him. Even if she was troublesome, as long as she had alone time with Shikamaru and no Ino in sight, she was in heaven. Of course, all the other girls in the Village Hidden in the Leaves knew how rare this heaven came to the Suna maiden, so of course they were respectable enough (i.e. afraid for their lives) to not interrupt the girl's happy time. Now that Temari had stormed away in frustration from the inattentive young chunnin, though, there was nothing to hold them back.

Which left Shikamaru running for his life, again, from a group of crazed girls, all of whom wanted the exact same thing: to make the Nara boy theirs.

While this was always annoying no matter what the circumstances, it was particularly trying his patience right now. He didn't have time to be dodging girls. He needed to think and figure out what he was going to do about Chouji. Unfortunately, any place that he could go to think would be populated by the same gaggle of beasts that were chasing him right now. If he tried to go home, though, he'd only come face to face with the scariest woman he knew: his mother. Shikamaru spent several more minutes running from the mob and desperately thinking of a plan of escape. The solution, however, was kind enough to present itself without even needing for him to think of it.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" Even if it was female, the voice sounded like that of an angel to the young man. He quickly turned to the voice's direction and dashed towards it in a full sprint, the mob close behind him. Quickly, he coasted to a stop in front of the voice's owner and tried to look as nonchalant as possible, since he _was_ Nara Shikamaru, after all.

"What's up, Sakura?"

The entire mob halted and fell silent. Sakura was popular around the village, sure, but she was as well known for her temper as he she was for her pink hair. Seeing as how she now possessed the strength to bench press a building, no one wanted to risk getting on her bad side. So, when Sakura was about to talk, no one dared to interrupt or speak over her.

The pink-haired her girl herself just smiled. "Tsunade-sensei sent me to go find you. She wants to talk with you about a few upcoming missions." The crowd let out a collective groan of despair. If Shikamaru was going to be talking with the Hokage, then they obviously couldn't interfere or try to stop him from going. That would mean facing Tsunade's wrath, and no one bar Naruto was dumb enough to risk that. The girls all shuffled off in different directions, some of them grumbling about how life wasn't fair.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, happily walked off alongside Sakura, a large grin plastered on his face. Even if they were heading to a meeting with the Hokage, and that he'd probably just be given some troublesome mission, at least for now he'd be free of all of his groupies. He decided to just not think about them, or Ino, or Temari, or even Chouji and just enjoy this peaceful moment. Which he did, until about five minutes later when he noticed something odd and stopped in his tracks. Sakura continued walking a few steps before noticing her companion's halt, and looked at him questioningly. Shikamaru returned the look.

"Sakura," he asked slowly, "where are we going? This isn't the way to the Hokage's office."

Upon hearing the question, Sakura just flashed her usual smile. "I know, but…" Sakura then stopped mid-answer to stretch her arms overhead, palms turned towards the sky. "…I've been stuck inside with my work _all day_. I need a _break_, and since Tsunade-sensei sent me for you, Shikamaru, she's not expecting us there for a while. So I figured we could both enjoy a nice, quiet stroll, okay?"

Shikamaru nodded and smiled a little. "Quiet sounds good right now." Sakura just giggled as they continued their walk. Despite her temper, the medic-nin was probably the only female in the village right now that Shikamaru wouldn't call troublesome.

Like all the other girls, Haruno Sakura had developed a crush on the infamous Uchiha Sasuke when they were children. However, unlike the other girls, Sakura had the fortune to be placed on his team. That meant that she got to spend more time around him, and had begun to see the boy behind the looks. She fell in love with him all over again, but this time, it wasn't for how handsome he was or how illustrious his clan was. She had fallen for his determination and drive to become stronger, traits that she had desperately wanted to have herself. This wasn't a simple crush anymore; Sakura had fallen for Sasuke, for real this time.

So, when Sasuke betrayed the village, betrayed _her_, she took it hard. Oddly enough, though, that heartbreak had also woken something in her. A desire to become stronger, to stand up to Sasuke herself, to take him back _with_ Naruto, instead of forcing him to do all the work, even if the avenger came kicking and screaming. To that end, she had really thrown herself into her training, and had quickly surpassed most, if not all the kunoichi chunnin in the village. Shikamaru actually had it on good authority (Ino) that the only reason that Sakura wasn't a jonin by now was because she hadn't wanted to leave Naruto too far behind in rank.

Because of this, however, Sakura had grown up a bit faster than most, and had stopped focusing on boys all the time like she had done as a genin. She now knew what most teenage girls have yet to learn: there's more to the world than just boys. As such, Sakura did not, never had, and hopefully never would go after Shikamaru, her only given reason being that he "wasn't her type." Sakura was the one girl that Shikamaru was safe around.

However, she was the best friend with someone who wasn't safe to be around, especially Shikamaru. So, not too long after they began their trek, the silence was broken by a loud, distinctly feminine call of Sakura's name. Both of them turned to the voice, and saw Ino running towards them (or rather, towards Sakura), her long ponytail flapping in the wind as she moved.

"There you are Sakura!" The girl skidded to a stop in front of her friend. "I've been looking all over fo-oh!" Ino stopped her words in surprise when she saw the boy with Sakura. Her voice lost its bouncy tone when she addressed him. "H-hey, there, Shikamaru. What are you doing here?"

Shikamaru didn't answer, opting to stare off somewhere else, clearly not wanting to talk to Ino. If Sakura felt any tension between the two teammates, she didn't show it. "Tsunade-sensei sent me to find him," she answered for him. "We're just taking some time before we faced her. Now, what's up? Is there something you wanted to talk about?"

Ino didn't answer. She just looked at the nearby shadow ninja with a mix of apprehension and shame. Shikamaru, however, noticed this, and while he understood the shame part of it, he wondered what the blond was so apprehensive about.

Once again, Sakura supplied an answer. "Is it something to do with Chouji?" At that, Shikamaru's eyes went wide for a split second, before they began throwing a decidedly pointed glare at the blond. Ino, for her part, cringed under her friend's accusing eyes and looked off to the side. Sakura blinked at both of their reactions. Confused, she turned to Ino. "I thought you told me that he knew?"

Ino responded quickly. "Oh, yes. Shikamaru knows that Chouji's _gay_." On that final word, Ino then returned the glare Shikamaru had been giving her. Shikamaru got the message. Apparently, the Akamichi's preference was all that she had told Sakura, and had left the confession out. Ino returned to looking at Sakura. "It's just that Chouji's kind of mad that I outed him, so Shikamaru's mad as well."

Sakura smiled and nodded, as if that made all the sense in the world. "You better be careful then," she giggled. "He might just end up running of with Temari." Both of her friends sweat dropped in disgust, though for very different reasons.

Ino recovered first. "I think I have a way to make it up to him though, and I wanted to talk to you about it, but…" she trailed off, looking at Shikamaru again. He and Sakura both got the message: she wasn't sure if she should talk about Chouji in front of his best friend.

Sakura just shrugged. "I think it's okay. Who knows? Maybe Shikamaru can give you some input, too."

Ino kept her gaze on her love interest, the apprehension/shame mixture back on her face. Shikamaru kept quiet, but gave a very slight nod. Honestly, he didn't know if he wanted to be here for this. However, he was getting pretty fed up with Ino's plans. After what happened with the last one, there was no way in hell that he was going to let another one go unchecked.

Ino stood silent. She really, really shouldn't have this conversation in front of Shikamaru right now, but he had given his permission…sort of. She sighed. "…Okay. Let's talk while we walk."

The three of them continued down the same direction Sakura and Shikamaru had been heading earlier. Ino let it stay quiet for a few minutes before she began. "Okay, so like I said, Chouji's upset because I outed him in front of Shikamaru, so I thought that maybe he'd forgive me if I, well…found him a boyfriend." Ino very purposefully did NOT look to see what Shikamaru felt about this, although she felt that if she had, it would be something akin to what Sasuke would look like had he been told that his brother was dead—and not by his hand.

So instead, she focused on Sakura, who seemed to be mulling it over. "Makes sense. So, any ideas as to who you'd like to set him up with?"

"Actually, I was kind of hoping that you could help be brainstorm on that. My first two choices are currently dating each other, so I'm really not sure who would be a good match for him."

Sakura nodded in response. The girls seemed to have forgotten that Shikamaru was there, now being caught up in there own world. Shikamaru, however, kept quiet, and settled for listening in as they talked.

"So, a boyfriend for Chouji, huh?" Sakura began. "Well, what about Lee? He's sweet, and he's very encouraging, so Chouji might not feel so insecure if they went out."

"No way. The chances of Lee having an interest in anyone _but_ you are little to none. Besides, if they did date, you know that Chouji would end up in one of those ridiculous green outfits." Both girls stopped for a second and paled in horror at the image of Akamichi Chouji in tight green spandex. Shikamaru gagged.

"A-anyway…" Ino tried to shake the image from her head and continue the conversation, "I guess the obvious answer would be Sai. I mean, he's about as gay as they get, right?"

"I don't know…" Sakura brought a finger to her chin in thought.

"Too perverted?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, that's not it. It's more that Sai doesn't really understand emotions all that well, so I really can't see him having an interest in anyone, male of female, for at least a few years." She smiled. "Besides, Chouji would kill him the minute he called him fat."

Ino chuckled at that. "Good point. So, any other ideas?"

"Hmm…how about Neji? He's nice enough, and it's not like he's ever shown an interest in girls before. He's very loyal, too, so you know he wouldn't mistreat Chouji."

Ino pondered that for a minute. "I don't know. He's kind of a stiff, you know? I'm not sure he'd go for it if he thought that it would be bad for his clan in any way."

Sakura nodded in agreement. "Shino?"

Both girls looked at each other for a second, then they broke into laughter. Definitely not Shino. He probably couldn't even spell 'romance.'

"Maybe we're thinking about this the wrong way," Sakura offered after they both had calmed down. "I mean, who says that it has to be someone here? My dad lived in the Land of Clouds until he and my mom married, and I know that they dated before then."

Ino thought about, and then her eyes lit up. "Oh! What about Gaara? I mean you can't do much better than a Kage, right?"

"Garra, huh?" Sakura thought about it. "Well, he is a nice enough guy. Kind of unstable, though, and he's not very good at expressing himself yet."

"Yeah, but he's better at it than Sai," Ino argued.

"True, although…" Sakura seemed to be considering something. "Actually, Kankuro might be a good choice, too."

"Isn't that the guy with the face paint and those creepy puppets?"

"He's not as menacing as he looks. Actually, he looks pretty good without the face paint. And I don't think that he'd care too much about Chouji's weight, either."

"Fair enough. Hey what about—" Ino stopped mid-sentence as she saw Shikamaru begin to walk away from the two chatting girls. "…Shikamaru?"

He stopped a few yards away from them. "Lady Hokage never called for me, did she?" He didn't even turn around as he asked the question. Both girls could tell that he was angry, his shoulders were rigid and his fists were clearly clenched in his pockets.

Seconds passed, and neither girl responded. "Thought so. You two are really troublesome, you know that?" Still no response. Eventually, Shikamaru sighed and relaxed into his normal slouch. "Look," he said, still facing away, "I don't know what kind of reaction you two were expecting from me, but forget it. You wouldn't get how I feel about this. Hell, _I_ don't even know how I feel about this. So stop trying to push it, all right?" And with that, he walked away, leaving the two girls behind.

"Well, that would have gone better," Sakura said a little while after the boy left.

Ino shrugged. "Still I _did_ get my answer, sort of."

"You know, you probably could have just asked him."

"Yeah, but he probably wouldn't tell me the truth. The only way that he'll confide in me right now is if I get him angry."

"Okay then, Ino. So, what are you going to do now that you have your answer? It's not like it was anything concrete. He said for himself he doesn't now how he feels."

"About what?"

Ino and Sakura blinked at each other. That hadn't been either one of them.

They turned around to see an irate Temari walking towards them. The older girl continued talking without waiting for a response. "Shikamaru's been distracted all day, and it sounds like you two know why. So, out with it. Now."

* * *

In retrospect, Kuromaru really couldn't blame the fox-scented human for being upset. After all, he had requested the boy to summon Gamabunta for him, then immediately told the boy to essentially get lost. Still, the dog had no problem showing his amusement as the blond walked off in a huff.

Still, now he had more important company to attend to. Kuromaru looked on as a large female toad in a kimono set a cup of sake down in front of him on the grass, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. He was somewhat surprised that the leader of the rock toads hadn't set a dog bowl in front of him as a joke again. He looked up at the mountain-sized toad as he took a sip from his own large cup. The dog then took a few laps from his own saucer. He looked back up at the toad chief and smirked softly. "You always did go for the good stuff, old friend."

"If you like it, then don't complain," the amphibian retorted. Gamabunta kept his voice low, so as to keep the conversation quiet while considering his usual load vocal range. Not that Kuromaru had a hard time understanding him, what with his canine hearing. Gamabunta set his cup back on the ground. "Now, what's own your mind? I doubt that you had the brat summon me just to talk about my choice in alcohol."

Kuromaru's thought out his words for a moment before he spoke. "I need to ask for your advice. As a father."

Gamabunta too a long drag from his pipe and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke before he answered. "I don't seem to recall Kiba ever being your son."

Kuromaru's remaining eye narrowed. "You knew about this, then."

"The brat talks to Gamakichi. He, in turn tells me anything that he feels is pertinent."

"And you're all right with it?"

"Why wouldn't I be? I don't seem to recall you ever having a problem with orientations, either."

The dog's eye narrowed even further, and he got up from his sitting position to his four legs to show his ire. "That's easy for you to say. The fox isn't related to you. And there's also the matter of Kiba's position as the future head of the Inuzuka clan. Tell me, honestly, what would you do if one of _your _sons came to you and said that they had fallen in love with another man? Could you really accept that?"

Gamabunta took another long puff of his pipe. "Well, I _do _wonder about Gamatatsu sometimes…"

"Don't avoid the question, damn it!"

"I'm not avoiding the question. I just simply find it irrelevant." Kuromaru was growling at him now, Gamabunta couldn't seem to care less. "This isn't about succession, and you know it," the toad chief continued. "This is about you're so-called 'son' thinking that he's found his mate for life. And you're afraid that he's right."

Kuromaru stopped growling after that. He returned back to his sitting position and stared down into his sake cup. The dog's now sullen aura told Gamabunta that he had been right. "Just because he found someone doesn't mean that he's leaving the clan. Hell, it doesn't even mean he's leaving the house. Kiba's growing up now, and you know as well as I that you can't keep him on a leash forever."

"I know," the black dog admitted. "Damn it, I've already had several of my pups go off and leave when their times came. Why is it so hard with Kiba?"

Gamabunta just shrugged. "Eh, he's a human. They don't come in litters." Both of them chuckled at that. Gamabunta then spoke again. "Your pup's in good hands, Kuromaru. You know that Naruto's reliable and won't hurt him, even if he is a brat."

Kuromaru sighed. "Yeah, yeah, fine. I'll go and tell Tsume to lay off the pup. And I suppose Kiba could have chosen worse. Since when did you become so good at giving family advice anyways?" Kuromaru took a few more laps out of the sake cup as he waited for whatever retort the amphibian was going to throw back at him.

"Since we had this same conversation three years ago when your Aomaru ran off to be with that mountain dog." Gamabunta didn't even bother to hold his laughter, as his friend spewed is sake on the grass in front of him.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, show of hands, how many of you actually got an image of Chouji in the gree Might Guy/Rock Lee outfit? You can thank me for your nightmares later. )**

**Once again, I would like to state that I am taking a good deal of artistic license with this. Really, I have now idea if Chouji can escape the Shadow Imitation technique or not, I don't know if Kuromaru and Gamabunta know each other, and for all I know, Sakura's father could be an elephant. If I said anything that contradicts canon, I apologize.**

**Anyways, the part where Sakura and Ino are discussing possible boyfriends for Chouji has a hidden purpose: to inspire. Seriously, people, Chouji is probably the most unused character in yaoi fiction for this series, and when he is, it's always with Shikamaru. Don't get me wrong, I love the ShikaChou pairing to death, as proven by the fact that I'm writing this, but Shikamaru at least appears often enough in other pairings. So, come on, give Chouji more love, people! That being said, there is a really good Kankuro/Chouji story called "The Shirt" that's being written right now. If that pairing doesn't completely freak you out, than look it up. It's pretty funny.**

**Oh, by the way, Aomaru means "blue mark," similar to how Akamaru means "red mark." That's everything, I think, so until the next time!**


	9. Confrontations are Troublesome

**A/N: Phew! Another chapter down. Only two more left! It feels good, getting close to finishing up a story.**

**This chapter is actually the first time that I've written any sort of action scene, so if you can, I'd really like to know how that went. There's something that I've wanted to write for a while now, but it requires a little more action and fighting than I've done before, so I need to know what to work on with that.**

**Well, enough talk. On with the chapter! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go barricade myself. You'll see why.**

* * *

Confrontations are Troublesome

Shikamaru sighed in relief. It had taken the better part of the morning, a thorough search plan, and the best of his stealth abilities, but he had finally found Inuzuka Kiba. The boy was currently sitting in a small open-air teahouse, eating a light snack—one block from Shikamaru's house, where he had started the search.

Normally, Shikamaru would have found this fact troublesome, but right now he had to think up a way to approach the boy without acting suspicious. As much as he hadn't wanted to bother Kiba during his own troubling situation, Shikamaru desperately needed advice. After Ino and Sakura's ruse two days ago, he had finally mellowed out a little and began talking to his female teammate again, but Shikamaru would stick a kunai in his eye before he asked one of his biggest and most crazed admirers for romantic advice.

Right now, Shikamaru needed to talk to someone who knew something about love themselves. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of romance in the village right now. Sakura, although she had been in love with Sasuke, still fell into depression whenever the boy was brought up. He was still wary of Hinata right now. Neji, Lee, Tenten and Shino probably had never even had a date before. Iruka-sensei would give the basic, watered-down version of love he always gave to his academy students; Kakashi-sensei was a pervert, while Guy-sensei would just give one of his three-hour 'youthful' speeches. Kurenai-sensei, while more well versed on the subject of romance, was occupied with the baby, and Shikamaru's parents were, well, _themselves_.

That left the one known couple in Kohonagakure: Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba. And, by sheer serendipity, they were both male, which would be even more helpful for his particular situation. After thinking about it last night, Shikamaru decided to go to see Kiba, since he was the slightly saner of the two, and would probably give better advice.

Still, while he wanted advice, he had no intention of letting Kiba, who wasn't particularly known for being tight-lipped, know what had happened in that alley. So, he had to figure out a way to approach the dog-nin without letting on why exactly. Same for the giant dog that was resting at his owner's feet.

Unfortunately, it looked like Kiba was just finishing up his food, so he didn't have a lot of time to think. Shikamaru decided to take a chance and just approach him. As he walked towards the boy, Akamaru perked up and noticed him approach, then yipped up at his partner to alert him. Kiba looked down at his dog to listen to him, then looked back up at his approaching comrade. "Ah, hey Shikamaru…" he asked, looking a little confused.

"Hey, Kiba." Shikamaru was trying to sound as nonchalant as he could, but to be honest, he still didn't know what to say. So he went with an old standby. "Look, can we talk?" Then he looked down at the dog, which looked just as confused as his master. "Alone?"

"Uh, sure. Hey Akamaru, you mind giving us a little bit? This sounds like it's important."

"Arf! Arf!"

"I know, and I'm sorry, buddy, but I promise I'll make it up to you tonight, okay?"

"Arf?"

"Sure, steak sounds good. Thanks, Akamaru."

"Arf!" And with that, the large dog got up and left, jumping off the ground on onto a nearby roof.

Kiba watched his friend leave, then gave Shikamaru a casual smile. "Akamaru and I were going to spend some time together today, since we haven't in a while."

"…Sorry."

"Eh, not your fault. C'mon, let's go. I think better when I'm moving." Somehow, that didn't surprise Shikamaru too much, but he followed after Kiba anyways. Both of them were quiet. Shikamaru wasn't sure how to approach this, and Kiba was waiting for his friend to speak. Kiba may not have been a genius, but he could tell when someone was troubled, and Shikamaru, even if he wasn't aware of it, usually wore his emotions on his sleeve. The boy was so used to being bored or concentrating, it was painfully obvious when he was feeling something else. Kiba decided that, since Shikamaru was clearly upset about something and probably not at all used to it, he'd let his friend start the talk.

Shikamaru, however, was still coming up blank. He decided to use a delaying tactic for now until he had his words sorted out. "So, I take it that everything's okay between you and Akamaru? I mean, after, well, you know…" Shikamaru trailed off, not really sure if this was a touchy subject or not.

Kiba seemed fine with it, though. "Yeah, we're good. He was pissed at first because I didn't tell him I was seeing Naruto, but he got over it quick. Actually, he's been pretty supportive through this whole thing." Kiba smirked a little. "But you didn't want to talk to me about my love life. What's up?"

Shikamaru looked down at the ground, a little pink lighting his cheeks. "Actually, that kind of is what I wanted to talk about," he mumbled out.

"…Come again?"

Shikamaru sighed. There really wasn't a delicate way around this, so he decided to just ask it flat out. "Kiba, how did you fall in love with Naruto?"

Kiba blinked, and then narrowed his eyes. "…Why?"

If Shikamaru wasn't aware that he was blushing before, he damn well knew it now. He really didn't know how to answer that. 'No reason' would have obviously been a lie. 'I'm trying to understand gay people' would just piss Kiba off. He couldn't say 'I think I might feel the same for Chouji,' either, if he didn't want to risk certain troublesome females finding out. Shikamaru just couldn't think up what he should say.

Fortunately, it didn't look like he had to. Kiba, who had been watching him like a hawk since he asked his questing, spread a big smirk across his face. "Oh, I get it…" he drawled out.

Shikamaru gulped. What exactly did Kiba 'get?'

The dog ninja just barked out a few laughs. "So, the great Shikamaru finally falls for someone, huh? Shoulda known you'd get interested in girls sooner or later. So, is it one of your fans, or someone else?"

Outwardly, Shikamaru kept blushing and looked away. Inwardly, he let out a sigh of relief. Apparently, Kiba thought that he had fallen for a _girl_. Well, if it got the advice he wanted, Shikamaru certainly wasn't going to correct him. "Shut up," he spoke, sounding indignant. "There's no way you'd keep your big mouth shut if I told you. And you still haven't answered me."

"Yeah, yeah…" Kiba waved off Shikamaru's words. In hindsight, maybe that hadn't been the best time to insult Kiba. Now, however the boy seemed to be thinking. "When I fell in love with Naruto, huh? You know, I don't think that I actually remember when."

Shikamaru groaned. "Could you _try_, please?"

"Well, I don't mean that I forget, really, but it wasn't like it was just one moment, you know. I mean, I always kind of liked him, I just didn't know it at the time. I think that's why I was always picking at him. It was like, I wanted to be closer to him, but at the same time I was afraid of getting too close, you know?"

Shikamaru thought about that. That did kind of make some sense. His mother had said once after Ino had yelled at him when they were about seven that little kids often pick on people that the actually like. Still, that really didn't help him. He had never been uncomfortable around Chouji, or afraid of being 'too close' to him. He tried a different approach.

"Alright, then do you at least know when you _knew_ you had fallen for him?"

Kiba smirked. "That, I do know. It was during a mission we were both on. Like I said, I was always fighting with him back then. I liked him, but didn't really realize it yet, and I guess he was the same. Anyways, he and I had been at each other the whole time over really nothing.

"About five days in, when we set up for camp for the night, I took first watch and he took second. I let Akamaru sleep for the night during my watch, and when I woke up Naruto for his shift, he wasn't too thrilled. We started fighting again, and it got to the point when I just wanted to get him to stop talking, so I did—by kissing him."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, while Kiba looked skyward and blushed. "It did get him to stop talking."

Shikamaru chuckled. "So, then what? You two made out under the stars and watched the sunrise?"

"Just the opposite, actually. I went to bed, he took his watch, and we avoided talking for the rest of the mission. It was a week after we got back before he came up to me demanded that we talk. Stuff happened, and, well…" Kiba trailed off, his story finished. "So, that helps you out at all?"

Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his forehead. Truthfully, there really wasn't anything that he could pull from what Kiba told him. Kiba's encounter, while spontaneous, was focused on passion, while Shikamaru's had been marred by Chouji's pure embarrassment and fear. The only thing similar was that both pairs ended up avoiding each other afterwards. Unfortunately, Shikamaru had no idea what to say to Chouji, and the mass ninja was more than capable of avoiding him eternally.

"Thanks, Kiba, but I think that my…situation is a little too different than yours. I appreciate the help, though."

"Eh, you're welcome, I guess."

As the shadow ninja began to walk off, though, Kiba called after him. "Hey, Shikamaru!" The boy turned around to listen. "Look, if you like this girl, whoever it is, just be honest about it, even if it's to yourself. You're not doing yourself any good if you try to deny what you're feeling, you know?"

Shikamaru nodded slowly. "…I'll do that. Thanks." Then the boy disappeared behind a building.

Kiba smiled wide, feeling very self-appreciative after doing his good deed for the day. He continued walking, now heading towards the butcher's. After all, that steak he promised Akamaru wasn't going to materialize on its own. He rounded the corner of the street…

…Only to find himself facing Hinata.

Kiba's smile vanished, replaced by a face of surprise and embarrassment. His mouth formed a small 'o' upon seeing he teammate. Hinata's face was the exact same. For a moment, both of them stood completely still, as if frozen. Then, they both began to blush and turned looked away. Kiba turned his head to the side, while Hinata looked down at her feet.

After remaining like this for a short time that felt infinitely longer than that, Kiba finally got up the courage to speak. "Listen, Hinata, I—"

"I'm sorry!"

Kiba blinked at the girl after her sudden outburst. Hinata was now bowing in front of him, tears forming in her eyes as she continued ranting. "I'm so sorry Kiba, I had no right to say all those horrible things to you! It's just that, I…I was just so upset and I had to find out about the whole thing from Hanabi, and I know that you both were just trying to protect me and I know that you didn't deserve that and…and…"

"Whoa, whoa," Kiba tried to calm his friend down and keep her from blubbering on. "It's alright, Hinata. Calm down, okay?"

"No, it's _not_ alright, Kiba," the girl said, wiping her tears on her sleeve. She had calmed down a bit now, but was still sobbing quietly. "I said horrible things to you and, and I _hit _you! I had no right to do that."

Kiba rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah well, it was kind of our fault, too. We should have told you before. We were just, well, afraid of how you'd react."

"I…I know. And I'm really sorry about how I did react."

"Like I said, it's okay. Just tell me one thing, and please be honest about this, okay?"

"S-sure."

"Are you…okay with me dating Naruto?"

Hinata thought out her words before answering. "I…I can't put what I want before what Naruto wants. If he wants you, and you him, than I can't change that. It's hard for me, but what I want…what I want most is for my friends to be happy."

Kiba smiled and pulled the girl into a friendly hug. "You have no idea how good it is to hear that." Hinata blushed and returned the embrace, happy that she had finally made up with best friend.

* * *

Chouji cautiously looked both ways at the intersection before continuing down the street. To be honest, even he thought that he was being slightly paranoid. Still, he wasn't just trying to avoid Shikamaru now. He also had to look out for any surprise attacks like two days ago.

Chouji had been in a good mood after talking with Naruto and Kuromaru. So, when he had reached the village streets, he did what he usually did when he was in a good mood: he bought a bag of his favorite chips and began to munch away. Unfortunately, he hadn't even gotten one bite before the bag was blown away—along with Chouji.

The mass ninja immediately rolled into a ball and formed his signature Human Juggernaut. He bounced once he hit the ground and absorbed the impact. He could feel a second strong wind coming, so he focused his chakra into his hair and used it to give him traction to the ground. Then, he rolled forward, quickly accelerating to resist the wind. As soon as he felt the wind stopped, he uncurled and looked for his attacker. That wind was definitely _not_ natural.

In the middle of the street stood a well-known blond with four pigtails. Temari glared sharply at Chouji as she folded up her large fan. The large boy blinked. It was obvious where that violent wind had come from, but why would she attack him?

"Akamichi Chouji!" Temari shouted at the top of her lungs, right in the middle of the very large, very public street. "Know this: I will _not_ lose to you!" Then, still looking as venomous as she had when she appeared, slowly strolled away. Chouji's eyes were as wide as circles as he watched her leave, while the rest of the passers by were left wondering what just happened.

How the hell Temari found out about his attracting to her favorite brunette, Chouji didn't know. He did, however, have a sneaking suspicion that the girl had 'convinced' Ino to tell her. Regardless, what he did know was that, when Temari wanted something, she tended to get rather…physical. If her fights with Ino and the encounter two days were any indication, Chouji had to be very careful. Temari was very much like the wind itself; no matter how calm or peaceful it was, she could just show up suddenly and be as violent as a hurricane.

Still, for now, all seemed quiet. Hopefully, the girl was preoccupied today. After all, Kazekage's sister or not, her missions to Konohagakure weren't simply to chase after Shikamaru all day. Chouji slowly gained confidence and began to walk a little less cautiously. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all.

Chouji stopped in his tracks and sniffed the air. _Dumplings. Fresh, too._ Normally, Chouji didn't particularly go for sweet things, but for some reason, he felt in the mood. He followed the sweet scent to the stand where they were sold and took an order. Sitting down on the bench in front of the store, he ate at his dumplings lazily. They were actually pretty good. Chouji wondered if all villages had as good cooks as his did. Between the dumplings here, the ramen at Ichiraku, and the barbeque place he always ate at, the boy felt as though he was in the food capital of the Land of Fire.

"…Chouji…"

Upon hearing his name, Chouji jumped and quickly spun around, only to find that it wasn't Temari. It wasn't even a blond. Of course, that was difficult to tell with the green hood that covered up the other's head.

"Oh, Shino. How's it going?"

"…"

Chouji took his silence to mean that things were okay. Briefly, he wondered if Kiba and Hinata could understand all of their friend's silences for what they were. He supposed that it was pretty the same for them as it was for he and Ino at first; in order to understand what Shikamaru was trying to say through his usual 'troublesome' banter, you had to read in between the lines. "So, you want something?"

"…Yes. There's something that I wish to ask you…"

* * *

Shikamaru continued down walking, lost in deep thought. Fortunately, he was currently on a quiet path on the outskirts of the village. Most of his usual groupies preferred to spend fair-weather days like this in the middle of town, so he was relatively safe from being pursued for the moment. At least now he could think a little more clearly.

Of course, his thoughts were rather jumbled and confused at the moment, so it didn't really matter all that much. He just had so much to think about that he didn't know where to begin. He had his talk with Kiba to think about, along with that troublesome farce Ino and Sakura had put up before. And no matter what he did, that damn confession in the alley kept replay over and over in his brain.

One thing that he knew was that he had to talk to Chouji. He was getting nowhere by avoiding him and, if what he overheard from his dad and Chouza was true, Chouji wasn't doing too well, either. However, that left the problem of exactly he should say. He still didn't know how to approach his best friend, and he still hadn't figured out how he felt about Chouji's crush. He also had to be careful with how he said things this time. Chouji was still his friend, after all, and he didn't want to hurt him again like he had what seemed like ages ago on that hill, just by calling his damn cigarettes "fags." That was one thing that Shikamaru was sure about; no matter what, Chouji was and still would be his closest friend.

If he could ever be anything more, though, he didn't know, and he didn't want to give him false hope.

Shikamaru snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed that he was no longer alone. Someone was now walking down the path towards him. Shikamaru tensed up when he realized that the walker was female. As the girl neared, though, he began to notice the long dark hair and snow pale skin. He sighed in relief. Hinata was the one girl that he had never had to worry about chasing after him.

However, that didn't mean he was completely safe, either. He tried to get a good look at her eyes to try to judge her mood. He had expected them to look their usual shy or their more recent angry, so he was surprised when he saw that they were neither. Instead, Hinata's eyes looked tired.

She was about six paces from Shikamaru when she finally noticed his presence. "Oh! Um…hello, Shikamaru." The shadow ninja noted that her usual shy demeanor had returned.

"Hey there, Hinata. You all right? You look a little worn out." Normally, Shikamaru didn't get involved in other people's problems. It was simply too troublesome. However, he could use a distraction from his own issues right now.

"N-no, I'm alright. It's just…well…"

"Something to do with Kiba?"

"No! No, I finally apologized to Kiba. We're okay now…I think…It's just that…um…" Hinata looked off to the side and let out a tired sigh. "…Shikamaru, is there something wrong with me?"

Shikamaru raised his eyebrow. "Uh…no?" That was what most girls would want to hear, right?

Hinata gave a slight smile. "Sorry, that was unfair of me to ask. It's just that, well, first Kiba's dating Naruto, and just now I saw Shino, and he's just started going out with a guy, too. I mean, is there something about me that makes men go gay or something."

After a brief moment of thought, Shikamaru gave the girl a comforting smile (at least he hoped it was, since he really didn't do this kind of thing). "Look, if anything, that just means that you're easier to talk to than other girls, and personally I think that that's more attractive than looks. I can assure you, out of all the girls in this village you are definitely the most normal of them."

Hinata blushed. "Tha-thank you, Shikamaru."

"Eh, no problem." Shikamaru's smile grew into a smirk. "So, who's Shino's lucky guy?"

"Oh, it's…!" Hinata suddenly went quiet, her eyes wide. She looked as if she had just realized something.

"What's wrong?"

"Umm…nothing…but, well, I'm not sure that I should say…"

"Oh, come on," Shikamaru pushed, the smirk still on his face. "I mean, it's not like I'm not going to find out on my own, right?"

"Th-that's true, but…I mean, it's not really my place…"

"Come on. Tell me, _please_?" In the back of mind, it registered that Hinata seemed to have a specific reason to not tell him, but he didn't really care at the moment. Right now, talking to the Hyuga heir was effectively distracting from his own problems, and he wanted to keep it going as long as he could.

"…Chouji…"

"Hm? Sorry, I didn't hear you."

"It's Chouji. He's the one Shino's dating now."

Shikamaru seemed to freeze. Hinata was a little scared now. She really hadn't wanted to tell Shikamaru that his best friend was dating another guy, but, well, he _had_ insisted.

Shikamaru finally unfroze and rubbed the back of his neck. "…Hinata, are you sure you didn't just misunderstand something? I mean, no offence, but I don't think that Chouji would go out with Shino." Of course, he left out the reason why he thought this.

Now Hinata looked a little indignant. "I'm not mistaken, Shikamaru. Shino just asked him out less than an hour ago. They even _kissed_ in front of me!"

Shikamaru's smirk was long gone now, replaced by a scowl. "Hinata, I'm telling you, there's NO way they're dating."

"And I'm telling you that the _are_!"

Now Shikamaru was getting angry. "Hinata, listen to me! Chouji can't like Shino! He can't!"

"Wh-why not? And why are you so upset by this?"

Shikamaru was more than upset. He was fucking furious. His eyes were aflame, his knuckles white, and he had to suppress the urge to find the silent bug ninja and crush him like one of his beloved insects. No matter what Hinata said, he simply couldn't accept that Chouji could even think about dating Shino, because…because…

_Because Chouji is supposed to be in love with me!_

Oh, _kami_…

Shikamaru fell to the ground, sitting loosely and staring straight down. He looked as if he had been hit by a wayward rasengan. In a way, he felt like he had. With that one single thought, born from his rage, he had been struck with an epiphany that had shattered his whole world. Now, he knew. He knew why he was so upset. He knew what Kiba had felt all those years being around Naruto. And he finally figured out what that 'light' feeling was when he heard the Chouji's confession.

"Shi-Shikamaru…are you okay?" Hinata looked at her friend in confusion. One minute he's smirking, then he explodes in anger, and now he's on the ground, smiling maniacally and…and _crying_.

"…Yeah, I'm fine," Shikamaru rasped through his tears. He knew that he probably looked like a complete nut, but right now he didn't care. "I just realized that I'm in love with my best friend…and it's too late now."


	10. Running is Troublesome, So Let's Stop

**Wow. You know, the whole Shino/Chouji thing got more support than I thought it would. I was expecting to have to pull my half-dead corpse to the computer to write this after everyone had finished beating me to a pulp for that. That being said, now that this chapter is up, I'm fairly certain at least someone is going to be upset with me. Hopefully, though, you'll still give me a fair shake over it.**

**Now, this chapter is big. Seriously big. I mean it, the climax is in here. After all, if you pay attention to any novel, you'll realize that the last chapter is hardly the big one, but rather the aftermath. And this chapter is second-to-last, so yeah, it's pretty much THE chapter. Kind of nervous about it. Hope that it's everything that it should be. I won't waste any more of your time now, so enjoy it.**

* * *

Running Is Troublesome…So Let's Stop

Shikamaru had never felt like this before. He felt like laughing at his own foolishness and crying over it at the same time. Vaguely, he wondered if this is what dying felt like. This feeling of the entire world slowly fading away, until all that he could feel was his own presence.

"I just figured out that I'm in love with my best friend," the boy repeated through his tears, more for himself than the girl looking on. "I just finally _fucking_ figured it out." He was pounding the ground now with his fist, as anger mixed in with the sorrow. "Kami, how could I have been so fucking _stupid?_"

Heh, some genius he was. Not only had he not known how his best friend had felt about him for _over three years_, he hadn't known how he himself had felt until he finally lost him. It was too late now, though. Chouji had found someone else. Someone who had known how he felt, and wasn't afraid to do something about it. Shikamaru had had his chance, and now it was gone.

"…Then you better go tell him." Shikamaru's head shot up. Hinata was smiling sweetly, trying to convey a sense of support. "Tell him, while there's still time."

Shikamaru scoffed. "It's not like it matters now. He's already with Shino. As long as he's happy, I don't want to mess it up for him. Telling him now would just confuse him."

"Uh, yeah…about that…" Now Hinata was blushing and pushing her pointer fingers together like she always did when she was nervous. Even as distraught as he was, Shikamaru could sense something troublesome coming. "I might have kind of, sort of…made that up…heh, heh."

Shikamaru's jaw dropped, his eyes wider than they had ever been. "You WHAT?!"

"S-sorry Shikamaru, it's just that, um, I figured that if you were ever going to figure this out, you'd need, well, a sort of shock."

Shikamaru finally relocated his jaw and eyed the girl suspiciously. "You mean you cooked up the story about Shino and Chouji just to see how I'd react?"

Hinata nodded. "I used Shino because he's, well, my teammate. He's more likely to forgive me for this than the other guys. I, I'm really sorry that I deceived you Shikamaru, but I really felt that you only needed a push, so I gave you one."

"But, how did you even know about this?"

Hinata blushed again. "W-well, you see, after what happened with Kiba and Naruto, I was a bit of a…a mess. I thought that maybe I should talk to Ino, since she understands these kinds of things better than most people do. But, when I went to look for her, I saw her walking with Chouji, and then I saw you following them…

"I know that it wasn't any of my business, but I was curious as to what was going on. B-besides, I still wanted to talk to Ino. So, I followed them too, and hid on one of the rooftops near the alley. I heard everything that you did, Shikamaru, I just didn't get caught like you did."

Shikamaru was blushing now. Clearly, he hadn't been a very good ninja lately. He had been completely oblivious to Chouji's feelings, let Ino manipulate him twice, and now he had allowed himself be tailed. True, Hinata had over a decade of experience from following Naruto around like the lovesick schoolgirl that she really had been. Still, Shikamaru couldn't keep back the groan as he felt how much he had acted like a newly graduated gennin.

"But this isn't the time for talking about this. Now, you need to find Chouji."

Shikamaru, however, didn't move. He didn't even make a sound. "Eh, I don't know. I mean, don't you think it's kind of fast. I just figured this out, after all, and Chouji still won't come near me right now, so—"

"NO!" Hinata seemed just as surprised at her outburst as Shikamaru was. "I-I mean, you can't put this off, Shikamaru. I know how feel, believe me. I know it's scary to admit how you feel to someone. But if you don't, then you'll just keep putting it off until it's too late…" Hinata looked at her feet as she trailed off. Clearly, she was speaking from her own current experiences.

"Go tell him, Shikamaru," she continued. "Go and tell him how you feel. Do it while you're still certain. You looked so lost when you heard Chouji was dating someone else, so go find him before it becomes true."

Shikamaru thought about it. Hinata was right. He knew how he felt now, and Chouji felt the same way. Really, there really wasn't anything to think about on this one. So with a quick nod to Hinata, he ran off to the village. Chouji usually spent his days off in town, sampling various foods.

Hinata watched him leave, smiling. She had meant what she said to Kiba earlier that day. Hinata was happiest when she could help her friends be happy. Her thoughts went out to Shikamaru and Chouji, hoping that everything would go smoothly. Now, though, she needed to find and apologize to Shino. Hopefully, he wouldn't be _too_ upset that she had said he was gay.

* * *

Chouji couldn't help but laugh to himself as he walked along the street. He knew it was somewhat disrespectful to Shino to be acting like this, but he couldn't help himself. Silently, he wondered if Gaara's siblings ever had to put up with this from the young Kazekage too.

To his credit, Chouji had kept his humor hidden while Shino was actually asking him. It wasn't just the fact that Aburame Shino was asking him to recommend a good restaurant to take his family to that made Chouji chuckle. It was how he asked. Shino had been so ridiculously awkward about asking him. He had first been completely silent, and then had stuttered when he finally asked. Chouji even thought that he had seen a blush on that heavily covered face of his.

Chouji stopped laughing and sighed contentedly. Today really hadn't been a bad day at all. The sun was shinning, the village was calm, and no foreign kunoichi had attacked him today. Today had definitely been a good day.

Then he saw him. Shikamaru had suddenly appeared from around a corner, panting. Wherever he had just come from, he must have done so in a hurry, seeing how out of breath the boy was. Currently, he was scanning the streets. He seemed to be looking for something, although Chouji couldn't imagine what. Maybe he was checking to see if any of his stalkers were around.

Then, Shikamaru's gaze met Chouji's. Both boys stood completely still for what seemed like forever. Then, Shikamaru's eyes narrowed, his gaze more intense than Chouji had ever seen before, even during the most dangerous of missions. As he began to walk towards the mass ninja, Chouji panicked. Every bone in his body was telling him the exact same thing.

_RUN!_

* * *

Shikamaru had only picked up speed as he ran through the village. He thanked whoever was up there for allowing him to move around the village without a bunch of girls coming after him. Still, despite being clad in that unusual armor and being larger than almost everyone else, Chouji had been next to impossible to find. He had already checked his friend's usual eating spots, but had no luck. It was only by chance that he had happened to finally find Chouji. Only to see him run in the opposite direction as soon as began to approach him.

Shikamaru gave a low growl. He was _not_ in the mood for a chase right now. Still, there wasn't even a question as to what he would do. After that scare Hinata gave him, he was not taking any chances. So, he ran after him. Hopefully, he could do this a little better than his groupies had done.

* * *

Chouji had passed the Hokage's office just before Temari stepped out of it. The blond sighed, thankful that her meeting had finally ended. The girl just wasn't good at these sort of diplomatic missions. Ever since she was born, Temari had had two big obstacles to overcome: the pressure and expectations of being the Kazekage's eldest child, and the stone age way of thinking that she was weaker just because she was a girl. So, she had grown up fighting tooth and nail to gather her own respect and clout in her rather strict and traditional village. Temari had spent her whole life molding herself into the woman of action that she was today.

Because of that, however, she had missed a lot of the more feminine and cunning skills that kunoichi were expected to learn. Shikamaru once described her as being as subtle as a rhino, and even though she had whacked him over the head for saying it, she had to agree with him. Peacekeeping missions, although they were usually seen more as ninja vacations than actual work, had always been difficult for her. Sitting still and being pleasant without giving her usual retorts simply didn't work out for her.

Especially with Konohagakure's council of elders. Temari had been very thankful when the Lady Hokage had pulled her aside after one meeting and told her that she agreed with the expression Temari had been trying to hold in the entire conference. Someone really needed to slap some sense into those hypocritical, self-serving fossils. Suna's elders may not have been the nicest people in the world, but at least they were honest. Temari smirked when she thought of what their reactions will be when that Uzumaki kid finally becomes the Hokage (which he will, seeing as her formally psychopathic brother was able to make it). She would pay money to see _that_.

Meanwhile, though, it was mid-afternoon and Temari had the rest of the day off. She contemplated tracking down her future husband. On one hand, she was still mad at him for ignoring her before. On the other hand, every minute she spent away from Shikamaru meant another minute that that pigtailed brat Ino could be using to try to steal him away.

It was at that moment that Shikamaru ran past her. Temari blinked as she watched him go. A smirk crept up her face. _Trying to get away from me, huh? Well, we'll just have to see about _that_._ And with that thought, she took off after him.

* * *

Ino wiped her brow as she looked over her work. It had taken two hours, but she had finally finished her family's store's front display. Not that she hated the work, of course. Flowers had always been her forte, and working with them, be it to bring out their beauty or extract their poison, was always something that she enjoyed. Right now, she was congratulating herself for a job well done as she looked over the plants sitting under the colorful awning.

So of course she panicked when someone ran by and nearly knocked over one of the large urns carrying a bouquet of lilacs in their haste. Ino immediately moved to the urn and steadied it, then turned to yell at the careless runner. "Hey, you! Watch where you're—Shikamaru?"

Ino wondered why her usually lazy teammate was running full speed down the street. She watched him go, as if waiting for the answer to present itself. She didn't have to wait long, though, as Temari soon passed her.

Upon seeing the older blond, Ino went into autopilot. The whole mess with Chouji was one thing, but lose to Temari? _Hell_ no. "Daddy," she called into the shop, "I'm going out for a little while. I'll be back before dinner."

* * *

As the oh-so-troublesome chase continued through the streets, more and more girls saw Shikamaru running through the streets, and joined in trying to run him down. Before long, another female mob had formed. Of course, Temari and Ino were far in front of the rest of the girls.

Shikamaru, however, hardly noticed them. He was entirely focused on reaching Chouji. The shadow ninja knew that really, he probably deserved this run for denying his friend what he had wanted for so long, but this was beginning to work on his last nerve. And of course he wasn't deaf; he could hear the women screaming his name behind him. He just didn't care. All that mattered was the boy running in front of him.

Chouji, meanwhile, was running as fast as he could. He knew what he had said to Naruto and Kuromaru. He knew that he couldn't always avoid his best friend. Right now, though, he just couldn't do it. He was, simply put, scared of what would happen.

Chouji took a quick glance behind him, and then whipped his head back in the direction he was moving. Shikamaru looked pissed. He looked like he was ready to butcher the mass ninja for what he had said. Knowing that he probably could crush him, both in body and spirit, Chouji picked up speed, desperately hoping to lose his friend.

Shikamaru groaned when Chouji began to move faster and widen the gap between them. This had gone on more than long enough. Fortunately, after all the chases that he'd been through since Sasuke had left him there with all those troublesome women, Shikamaru knew the town layout fairly well by now. He smirked as Chouji ran down a side street, remembering nearly getting caught at the other end of that street once because it winded around a building that his kunoichi followers had been able to scale easily and cut him off on the other side.

Shikamaru decided to follow their example. He focused his chakra in his feet, and ran up the wall of the structure, immediately leaping down the other side once he had reached the top. Chouji had managed to pass by already, but now he was just a few feet ahead of him. Shikamaru rushed after him. Just a few more steps and…

"Gotcha!" Shikamaru was stopped to a dead halt as Ino glomped onto his arm. Apparently, his other teammate had decided to follow him over the building and had pulled ahead of Temari. Shikamaru watched forlornly as Chouji put kept on running. This could not be happening! "C'mon, Shikamaru, let's—"

"DAMMIT, INO! GET OFF OF ME!"

Ino, stunned, did as asked, and Shikamaru immediately continued running. The girl just watched him, her face in shock. She had never seen that happen before. Whenever she, or Temari, or someone else caught Shikamaru, he complained and asked to be left alone, but he was too lazy to actually try and stop them. Never, _never_ had he raised his voice to any of them. In fact, when she thought about it, he had never raised his voice, period. As she watched him go, she also realized that Shikamaru had never run in his whole life as hard as he was right now. What could have possibly gotten the constant slacker to put so much energy into running away?

It was then that she actually looked ahead of Shikamaru, and realized that he wasn't running away from anything. He was running _towards_ Chouji.

"You're not getting away!" Temari cried out as she opened up her fan. She too was tired of running and decided that stopping Shikamaru would be well worth the potential injuries and property damage. She hardly noticed that Ino was standing completely still as she readied her attack. "Kamat—what the?"

Temari freaked as she felt a familiar sensation travel through her entire body. Her muscles froze up, and suddenly she couldn't move. Had Shikamaru planted some sort of shadow trap to stop her? Was that why Ino wasn't moving either?

Suddenly, her body began moving against her will. Her hands dropped the fan, and she turned to find that Shikamaru had, in fact, not set any sort of trap. In front of her was Ino, her eyes hidden in the shadow of her bangs. Temari's eyes widened when she saw that the pony-tailed girl was forming a square over her chest with her thumbs and pointer fingers. "Ino, what do you think you're doing!?"

"Shut up, Temari," Ino said sullenly. She was desperately trying to hold back her tears because she absolutely _refused_ to cry over this. The rest of the mob was catching up to them, but that no longer mattered. "It's over now. We've already lost…"

* * *

Shikamaru knew that he had been somewhat abrupt to Ino, and he guessed that it must have affected her, since he couldn't hear her voice behind him anymore. He also noted that Temari was gone now, too, although he didn't know why. Maybe she had tripped and gotten trampled over by the rest of the girls.

Shikamaru shook his head out of the clouds. Ino and Temari didn't matter right now. Chouji did. He had to focus on catching up to him. It wasn't going to be easy. Shikamaru was a strategist after all. His place was on the back lines, observing and thinking. He wasn't built for speed. Fortunately, neither was Chouji.

He was gaining on him, and Chouji did seem to be slowing down. Still, he couldn't keep this up forever. Eventually, Chouji would reach somewhere like his home or the Hokage's office and Shikamaru wouldn't be able to follow him anymore. He needed to think of a plan, and fast. This wasn't like when he was running from the girls before he had barged in on Naruto and Kiba. Now, he was the pursuer, not the pursued. That meant that now, he had to find an answer while keeping track of his target. Not only that, but now he knew that Chouji could escape his shadow possessing technique. That would make things even more complicated.

Still, maybe he could use his shadow to help. He was close enough now. It was a bit of a gamble, though. If this didn't work, then he'd definitely lose Chouji. Unfortunately, all of the Nara clan's techniques required the user to stand still, so any that he tried now would be a one-shot deal. Still, it was worth that one shot. All he needed was a wall.

Now that Chouji had ducked into another alley, it seemed like Shikamaru was going to get his wall. Following closely behind, he began weaving hand signs. Shadow possession hadn't worked, but maybe shadow sewing would.

Chouji saw the brick wall in front of him. The path split left and right, perpendicular to the one he had been running down. Quickly, he opted to go to the right. Before he could, though, something pierced the wall, barring his path. Chouji identified them as two of Shikamaru's sewing shadows. He turned around, only to see three more pitch black tendrils appear on that side. Then, as if telling him to not even think about it, a sixth spike went over his head.

Chouji slowly turned around to face Shikamaru. The smaller boy was on one knee in his trademark stance as the shadows retracted back to their source. Chouji didn't bother trying to run. His movement was all about momentum. Now that he had been stopped, there was no way he could outrun his friend now.

Shikamaru started walking towards him now, slowly. Chouji tried to plead with him. "Please, Shikamaru, can't we just forget about all this happened? Can't things just be like how they were before? I promise you, I won't bring this up ever, really! I mean, we've been fine all these years so far, right? So, can we just go back to normal? _Please?_"

"No Chouji, we can't."

That was enough to move the large boy to tears. He tilted his head down as he cried. He couldn't stand to look at his obviously angry friend and his eyes, which were more intense than he had ever seen them before. He also didn't want Shikamaru to see him crying right now. Chouji really felt just so…_pathetic_.

Then, something happened. Suddenly, he could feel a finger under his chin tilt his head up, and almost immediately felt something soft press up against his mouth. Chouji was dumbfounded for a few moments before it registered. Shikamaru was _kissing_ him.

Shikamaru moved his head away from Chouji. The poor boy was frozen stiff in shock, watching him with a completely bewildered look that Shikamaru couldn't help but find, well, _cute_. It amused him how freely he was now able to think of his friend as such. The brunette smirked. "C'mon, Chouji, you're not gonna make me do _all_ the work, are you?" That knocked Chouji back to his senses, and he had to restrain himself from saying sorry as Shikamaru leaned in again for another attempt. This time, Chouji reciprocated. After all, he had wanted this for sooo long, so he might as well go with it.

The kiss was awkward and clumsy. Chouji had no experience whatsoever with this, and Shikamaru only had a little more than that (Ino had used him years ago so that she could claim to Sakura that she had more experience with boys). Their lips kept sliding and their noses bumped into each other more than once. To Chouji, though, it felt like heaven on earth. Without knowing it, he had placed his hands around Shikamaru's torso and on the small of his back. Upon realizing that he had pulled his friend into a close embrace, Chouji blushed in embarrassment and shame until Shikamaru draped an arm around Chouji's neck, pulling him even closer.

Eventually, they separated, and stared at each other. Both of them were blushing. Chouji was the first to speak, or rather, stutter. "You…I…we just…do you?"

Shikamaru blushed even more. Chouji decided that the pink/red tint looked good on the boy. Then, rubbing the back of his neck, Shikamaru spoke. "Chouji, look. I've never dated anyone before, male or female. I don't know how this will turn out. We could be a good couple, or we could be at each other's throats within a week. But…but if you want to, I'm willing to try. Is, is that okay."

Still somewhat shocked from everything that had just happened, Chouji nodded dumbly. He could do that. He wanted to do that. Shikamaru smiled at the nod, and moved in close for another kiss. "Sorry for making you wait so long, Chouji," he said, mere centimeters from his friend's mouth.

"S'okay. Not like I told you." Chouji had finally gotten a bit of his voice back.

Before their lips could meet, though, they heard something coming towards them. Upon hearing his name being called out by several voices, Shikamaru groaned. He had forgotten about his fan girls. Talk about bad timing. Shikamaru pulled away and looked at Chouji apologetically. "To be continued?" he offered.

Something clicked in Chouji. Those damn girls had overshadowed him for far too damn long. For months, he had to compete with them for Shikamaru's attention. And now that they were…something (they'd work on the definition later), there was no way he was going to let them get away with it any longer.

With a growl, Chouji grabbed Shikamaru and held him up against the brick wall. "No," he said flatly, a predatory gleam in his eyes. "I've had enough of them as is. They are NOT taking what's mine." This time, Chouji leaned in for the kiss.

Shikamaru was a little taken aback by his friend's sudden assertiveness, but decided that it wasn't a bad thing. He kind of liked the shiver it sent down his spine. He leaned into the third kiss, this time cupping the back of Chouji's head. Sure, the news would spread like wildfire tomorrow, but at least those troublesome women would stop following him now.

Yep, today was definitely a good day.

* * *

**A/N: Just so I'm clear, I don't really like Shino. I don't hate him, either, but I'm really not a fan of him. That may be because of the bugs. I really, **_**really**_** don't like bugs. I guess that I just don't like his character, with him being all stoic and a little haughty. I like noisy, active characters like Naruto and Kiba or underdogs like Chouji and Hinata better. Anyways, sorry that I strung you guys along last chapter. I love pulling surprises like this. Kudos to everyone who actually thought that it might be a lie after all.**

**Now, like I said at the top, I'm kind of nervous about this chapter because it's basically the real end to it, and the last chapter is more of a wrap-up. So let me know how it went, okay? Compliments are loved, but honesty is truly appreciated. I'm going to try and get the last chapter up a little faster, since after next week, my ability to post is going to be a little haphazard for a while. Until next time!**


	11. Epilogues are Troublesome

**Final chapter! Yay! Sorry that this took so much longer than I planned. I just recently moved out of my dorm for the summer, so writing got kind of put on the back burner. Anyways, here it is. The end. Hopefully, this will wrap it all up nicely. I won't hold all of you up with talk, so read on.**

* * *

Epilogues Are Troublesome

"I wasn't _that_ bad, was I?"

"Yeah," Sakura answered. "You kinda were." Hinata, sitting to Sakura's left on the bench, shyly nodded, and Ino, who was on the brunette's other side, visibly paled at their answers. Sakura couldn't help but chuckle as her friend looked back to the spectacle. Personally, she couldn't understand why Naruto had such a hard time answering the question when she had asked it what seemed like ages ago.

Actually, it was somewhat eerie how similar today was to back then. Right now, Temari was once again playing tug-of-war with some guy's arm. This time, however, that arm belonged to one Hyuga Neji. The only one that looked more disgruntled than him, though, was the girl on his other arm. The usually quiet and reserved Tenten was glaring daggers at the foreign girl. Actually, Sakura thought that she might really have daggers that were pointed at Temari.

"Get _lost_, Temari."

"Oh, please. Didn't I already beat you once already?"

"Will both of you please let go of me?"

Sakura allowed herself to laugh out loud. It was amusing how things had come full circle in the village. Within a week of seeing Shikamaru kiss his best friend, the fan girls had already moved on and started chasing down Neji. After all, he was intelligent, highly regarded, and came from one of if not the most illustrious clans in Konohagakure. Of course, Neji wasn't nearly as passive as Shikamaru was, and had been known to sometimes snap and attack the chakra points in his groupies' legs so that they couldn't follow him.

Tenten had changed as well. For years, the girl had been more than a bit of a wallflower, content to let her teammates and sensei take most of the spotlight. Now, though, she had to put herself out there in order to make her claim on the pale-eyed boy. Sakura couldn't help but feel that this whole new chase might be good for the weapons expert. Not that Temari was making it easy for her.

"So, Hinata," Ino turned to the shorter girl, trying to take her eyes off the potential catfight. "You're Neji's cousin. Any idea which one he likes?"

Hinata mulled it over for a minute. "Well, he did use to say that Tenten would make a good wife one day. Still, he doesn't really date. He's always expected that he was going to be married off by our family when he was older, so he never really bothered before."

"Wait, married off?"

"He's not really going to be forced to marry someone, is he?"

The medic and control ninjas were surprised, and somewhat upset. Both of them, being romantics, were vehemently against arranged marriages.

Hinata just shrugged. "It's possible, I suppose. There was even talk of him marrying _me_ for a while. To keep the bloodline pure and all that." Sakura and Ino's eyes widened. Hinata could see the oncoming loud 'WHAT?!' that was coming from both of them, so she quickly continued. "B-but that didn't last long. We were too closely related or something. Anyways, it is definitely a possibility that he could be betrothed to someone, but I don't think that he will be. Father is very fond of him, and still feels somewhat guilty over my uncle, so I don't think that he'll let anything be forced onto Neji."

Ino nodded, and then both she and Hinata turned back to the three-person circus in the street. Sakura, however, kept her eyes on her friends. She couldn't help but like how this had turned out. Ever since Ino had started chasing Shikamaru, Sakura hadn't had any female friends to hang out with for some time. Her only other close friends were Naruto, Lee, and he-who-shall-not-be-named, all of which had Y-chromosomes. Now, though, she had two girlfriends to hang out with, and she had to admit, she loved it.

After crying for a couple of days while Sakura comforted her, Ino had officially sworn off men. Of course, since it was Ino, Sakura had expected the hiatus to last for all of day. So she was surprised when, a month later, the blond girl still hadn't even tried to get a date. Of course, she still looked at any guy she deemed 'hot' without shame, but now it was more as an observer than an active participant.

Hinata had done the opposite. Instead of taking herself back, she put herself out. After the heartbreak of Naruto's exposure and the joy of helping Shikamaru, Hinata had grown a little. The Hyuga heir decided to start talking to people more than she had before. As hard as it was for her to look for people to hang out with, she had found friends in Sakura and Ino. Actually, she had originally been trying to talk to just Sakura, since both of them had an interest in medicine, but Ino had shown up, and Hinata had just sort of gotten caught up with them. Still, it worked out, so she couldn't complain.

A sudden short gasp from Hinata and "Wha?" from Ino brought Sakura out of her revelries, and she looked towards where they were looking. Temari had let go of Neji's arm and backed away, but apparently not by choice. Where she had been standing, two long kunai were sticking out of the crowd. Temari looked at Tenten in slight shock, while Tenten just smirked. After all, Tenten wasn't Ino; she fought with blades, not insults. Temari's eyes narrowed, and she reached behind her back for her fan.

Sakura gulped and turned to her friends. "Maybe we should leave."

"Good idea."

"Agreed."

* * *

Naruto rustled in the bed sheets. He was trying his hardest not to wake up, but his body just wasn't having it. He reluctantly tried to open his eyes, only to be blinded instantly. Naruto shielded his eyes with his hand, moving from his resting position as little as he possibly could. He found that the light was actually sunlight coming in through his bedroom window.

Naruto groaned and was about to begin cursing at the window or the sun (he hadn't decided which) when he heard a soft snore next to him. He propped himself on his elbows and looked at the other side of the bed. Kiba was still sleeping, curled up in the blankets like a little kid. The blond couldn't help but think that the young heir to the Inuzuka clan just looked so damn cute when he let his guard down and stopped trying to act so macho all the time. Sometimes, Kiba really needed to realize that he didn't need to be top dog all the time.

Naruto chuckled as he leaned down and snaked his arms around his boyfriend. Awake or not, he really didn't feel the need to leave the bed right now. He smiled as Kiba instinctively returned the embrace. Naruto couldn't help but hope that, whatever the dog ninja was dreaming, he was in it. He blushed, warm from both the sun's rays and Kiba's tanned body.

Naruto was fairly certain that it was mid-afternoon now. Technically, they were on a date right now. About a month ago, Kuromaru had, for some odd reason that he felt no need to explain, let up on the pressure on Naruto and given his approval. The rest of his pack had soon followed suit. Tsume had still been rather harsh to him, but after some time and convincing from the rest of the clan, she finally gave in. Today was their first completely unobserved, unchaparoned, and non-followed date.

Naturally, they had spent it in Naruto's apartment.

Naruto's smile grew even wider. He liked this. He liked having a boyfriend that he didn't have to sneak around with. It was incredible how much little things could feel so incredible. Things like sleeping with Kiba without having to close the window. Like giving and receiving small kisses without looking to see if anyone was watching. Like being able to joke about the hickeys on Kiba's neck in public (although that wasn't so nice when Kiba returned the favor). He hadn't said anything, but Naruto had been worried that things between him and Kiba would change once they were outed. It had, and it was just fantastic.

Then Naruto heard mumbling, and felt Kiba begin to wake up. Kiba's eyes slowly opened, and when he saw Naruto's blue eyes right in front of him, he blinked in mild surprise before recognition came to his face. Then he smiled lazily. "Mornin'."

"Morning. Sleep well?"

"Yeah. Little sore, though. You were pretty energetic."

"Heh, heh. Sorry, but we haven't been able to do anything for over a month. Had to make up for lost time."

"When did I say I was complaining?"

Both boys blushed and smirked simultaneously. Both of them stayed in an embrace for a few minutes, neither wanting to move. Naruto was the one who broke the silence. "So, what now?"

"_Now_…" Kiba flipped Naruto on his back and pinned him on the mattress from above. The brunette had a predatory grin on his face, which was only enhanced by his canine teeth and eyes. Naruto just smiled back at him, excited about what was about to happen. "…Now it's my turn."

* * *

The sky was a bright blue. Large, puffy clouds dotted the heavens. There was slight breeze, not cold, but definitely cooling. And Shikamaru was absolutely livid.

"I cannot believe that woman! She's just so…so…argh!"

"Shikamaru, calm down."

"Why should I? First, she freaks out when I tell her that I'm gay, but as soon as she finds out I'm dating you, suddenly it's no problem? I mean, no offence, but what is it about you that makes it suddenly okay? She is such a…"

Chouji sighed. This was getting tiresome. Fortunately, now he had a way to end the tirade. He gripped the neck of Shikamaru's shirt (the chunnin vest had already been removed) and crashed their lips together. Shikamaru looked surprised at first, but quickly relaxed into the kiss. After a few moments of lip lock, Chouji pulled away. "Your mom approved of us dating. Just be thankful for that."

Shikamaru nodded, a slight blush on his face. Chouji was getting _really_ good at kissing. He laid back on the ground and looked up at the clouds. Chouji popped another chip in his mouth.

It was really incredible how simple all of it was. A month ago, Shikamaru had been completely honest when he said he didn't know how dating would work out between them. Chouji hadn't known either. All that time pining for his friend, the mass ninja had known full well that, in the event they had gotten together, it could very well turn out badly. But it hadn't been hard at all. In fact, it wasn't even all that different. They still did the same things they had done before Shikamaru had become the village heartthrob (that was something he definitely didn't miss). They still went out for lunch with their friends from time to time. They still went and watched the clouds from the hillside like they were right now. It was the exact same as it was before the whole mess had started.

Except that, instead of Shikamaru resting his head on the grass, it was in Chouji's lap. And that Chouji had to let his bag of chips sit off to the side because he needed one hand to run through Shikamaru's silky hair. And that, every now and then, Chouji would feed him a chip, and both of them would smile as Shikamaru ate it.

And those things just made all so much more for both of them.

Shikamaru smiled as he looked up. Here he was. He was looking up at the sky, watching his beloved clouds. His boyfriend (he liked that word) that he could honestly and easily say he loved was there with him, and he didn't have any rabid fan girls chasing after him.

Today was decidedly a very, _very_ good day.

* * *

**And so, it ends. You have no idea how much fun writing this was. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, alerted, and favorited this story. Your support really helped motivate this. Once again, thanks.**

**Oh, and before I go, FriendoftheVampire, about your request. To be honest, I don't know a lot about those two characters, and they're a little out of my usual comfort zone, if you know what I mean. That being said, who doesn't love a good challenge? It might take a while, but I will write it for you. If you want, I could send you a copy via the DocX feature on this site before I post it, to see if you approve or not. So, until next time!**


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